


Out Of Place Out Of Time

by wereallmadherealice



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, F/F, F/M, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Probably will contain mutual pining, now illustrated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2018-11-10 10:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11125515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wereallmadherealice/pseuds/wereallmadherealice
Summary: It's just their luck, that when Kaiba sends Yami and Yugi to investigate a mysterious anomaly in London, they end up in the wizarding world.A new place, with different rules that rarely make sense, and new dangers all around, what are the two Shadow Lords to do?





	1. The Call

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, some aspects of the story are definitely inspired by esama's King's Jackal, which is still a brilliant story, that I first read years ago. What I mainly took from it, was the aspect of the Shadow Court.
> 
> Another source of inspiration would be Shadow Justice by Rahar_Moonfire. A great series of works, but I really need to brush up on my comic book references to appreciate it fully.  
> The influence of this story is relatively minor. I just want to recommend it.
> 
> Also, I have no idea where I'm going with the story, but I have 6 other chapters written so far. I really shouldn't be working on this at all. It's finals week.

“Yugi, the phone is ringing! Could you get it for me? I'm busy with a customer!” he called, before winking at the beautiful brunette in front of him. The lady smiled nervously and pushed forward the items. Whistling slightly, he started scanning them. The business was going good today.

“Coming, Gramps!” He finally heard, accompanied by several loud thuds as a young man ran down the stairs. 

“Kame Game Shop! Yugi speaking, how can I-oh!” He suddenly quieted. “Seto? What's going on?”

The rest of the conversation escaped him as Yugi moved further away, his tone now subdued. Waving a cheerful goodbye to the customer, Sugoroku moved around the till and went to lock the doors. It was getting late after all. He flipped the sign to 'Closed' and let out a little sigh. 

If Kaiba was calling, it must be important. The boy wouldn't have bothered to call the shop otherwise. And if he wanted to arrange for another rematch with his grandson, he would have just sent one of his lackeys or an official invitation. Because Seto Kaiba was just that 'extra', as Jounouchi would say, he thought with a chuckle.

“Okay. We'll do our own search into it. Yeah. Say hi to Mokuba.” Yugi finished cheekily. 

Sugoroku thought he heard a snort from the other end. 

“Hmm. Yes, we'll be in touch. Especially if it is as serious as it sounds.” There was another pause. 

“Yeah I can hear the sarcasm, har har. Later then.” With that Yugi pressed the call end button. Putting the phone down he gave a small groan and stretched his hands over his head, sighing in relief at the series of pops that followed. 

Sugoroku smothered a chuckle. “Tired now, are we?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hmm.” Yugi yawned. “Yami decided it would be a great idea to play Go Fish yesterday. That was after he had the brilliant idea of mixing energy drink with coffee, but before the actual effects kicked in.” He grimaced and tugged at his hair.

“We were halfway through the second game and he looked like he was gonna vibrate out of his skin. I told him it was a bad idea, but what do I know of course, so I suggested he go run around the block and work off the energy or something. He didn't though because we were still in the middle of a game and games are 'serious business'.” He made little quote marks with his fingers. “And I was like: 'Yami, we're playing Go Fish'.” Yugi gave a small shrug. 

“Either way, he wouldn't be deterred and I had to stay up with him until he came down from his energy-high,” he paused, squinting at the clock on the wall. “Which was roughly two hours ago.”

Sugoroku was openly chuckling at this point. Yami had discovered a passion in many of the modern age luxuries. Unfortunately, especially for Yugi, he had also discovered his love for coffee and other caffeinated drinks. 

Seeing the great and mighty Pharaoh experience a sugar-rush for the first time was quite entertaining, unless your name happened to be Yugi Mutou, who had the dubious pleasure of experiencing the same feeling over their mind-link. He had tried to describe the feeling to his grandfather, only to come up short, and giggle helplessly as the Pharaoh started to sing a rather horribly butchered version of a song that was playing on the radio.

Since then the Pharaoh's caffeine intake was carefully monitored, but somehow he still managed to have secret stashes of the goods. Yugi had resigned himself to his fate by now.

“Well. You should probably catch some more sleep then, Yugi.” Sugoroku had to smile as his grandson failed to contain another yawn.

“Mmm, I might just do that.” Yugi mumbled. “I will be more of a use to Seto if I'm not completely dead on my feet.”

“Oh yes.” Sugoroku hummed. “What did he want exactly?”

Yugi gave an apologetic grin. “Sorry. Court business. And-”

“And you rather not tell me in case the next big bad comes after me fishing for information. Yes, yes.” He waved dismissively. “I will be here in case you require my extensive knowledge of otherworldly things or my superior wisdom.”

Yugi snorted and gave a small smirk. “Thank you, o wise-one.” He gave a short bow, before taking off to the stairs, laughter growing quieter with the distance.

“Kids these days, hm?”he mumbled to himself, with a small smirk. “Guess I'll organize that shelf I've been meaning to look at.”

*-*-*

Yugi entered the room and closed the door with a sigh. He leaned against the frame and watched the scene in front of him. 

Yami was curled up on the bed, small frown tugging his brow. He mumbled something unintelligible and shifted the covers around.

Yugi quietly crept closer and climbed back into the bed. A wave of drowsiness hit him as soon as his head touched upon the pillow. 

“Hmm.”

Yugi lifted his his hand and placed his finger against the crease between Yami's brows and murmured soothingly. “Yeah, I'm back already. Go back to sleep.”

A mumble was his only answer, before he was tugged closer to the warm body, Yami's arm wrapping around his waist and setting on his back. Yugi gave a another sigh and rested his cheek on Yami's shoulder. His eyes slowly closed and he felt himself succumb to sleep. 

Naps were definitely the best thing ever.

*-*-*-

A couple of hours later saw a considerably more awake Yugi Mutou emerge from the room and trot down the stairs. Idly scratching at his chin he entered the kitchen and flipped the light switch, squinting at the sudden brightness illuminating the room. 

Blearily he opened the cupboard and grasped for coffee. 'Damn you, Yami.' A short while later he was sitting at the table, mug grasped in his hands and breathing in the steam that was slowly rising up. 

A pair of arms circled around his shoulders and he had to lean forward to accommodate the sudden increase of a weight. 

“Welcome back to the land of living, Yami.” 

The only answer he received was a mumbled groan and something that sounded like: “Mwmpf.”

He couldn't resist the soft laugh that escaped him. 

“Here.” Yugi fumbled a bit, but managed to pass an identical mug to his companion, who seemed to have made himself comfortable by falling half-asleep on top of him. The mug was taken and he was rewarded with a slightly more appreciative groan. He turned his head to see Yami straightening and basically inhaling the still-scalding hot liquid. Crimson eyes opened more fully and he gave a little hum.

“You know you could have slept some more,” Yugi pointed out. “I would have woken you up later.”

“Yeah, well my pillow left me.” Yami said, peering into the empty mug, as if expecting more liquid to magically appear. 

Yugi held up the coffee pot and looked at Yami with a raised eyebrow. Yami gladly passed the mug along and gulped it down as soon as it was filled again.

“Ohh my love,” he cooed at the coffee mug in his hands. “I don't know what humanity did to deserve you, but am I glad you are here.”

Yugi ignored him, familiar with his partner's obsession, but still barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“If you're done proclaiming your eternal love for coffee, we have things to talk about.” he chuckled.

Yami responded to that with a sniff and walked over to nudge one of Yugi's elbows off the table with his hip before turning and unceremoniously plopping down on his lap. 

“Don't feel left out now, partner. You know you are almost as important to me as coffee.” Yami was getting more animated now, having had his caffeine boost.

“Oh geeze. Thanks.” Yugu dead-panned. However he couldn't help cracking a grin. 

“So, pray tell me,” Yami started, shifting around to get his legs in a more comfortable position, “Why are we up at two in the morning?”

Yugi blinked at him innocently. “Do I need a reason?”

The look on Yami's face clearly showed he wasn't impressed.

“I know how much you love sleeping in, partner. If you didn't have a good reason to be up, you simply wouldn't be up. And I would have still had a pillow. Not that this isn't nice.” Yami leaned into him. “So, why are we up?”

Yugi had to smile at that. 'You know me too well.' 

'I would be shocked and offended at myself if I didn't.'

Yugi snorted. Content, he shifted his legs that were starting to fall asleep under Yami's weight and leaned back into the chair. His fingers were tracing the patterns on his coffee mug.

“Seto called me.” he finally admitted.

“Does he want another rematch? Please tell me he doesn't want another rematch at three in the morning.”

“No.” Yugi shook his head. “You know he would first send an invitation for that and then try to make it the biggest media spectacle since the last spectacle.”

“You got a point there.” Yami nodded easily. “What then?”

Yugi hesitated, glanced around and looked back at Yami. His voice was barely a mutter now. 

“It might have something to do with the Court.”

That immediately grabbed Yami's attention. He set down his once-again empty cup and turned to look at Yugi properly.

“Hmm.” Yugi nodded. “Some of the agents picked up a strong Shadow magic activity.”

Yami's eyes sharpened at that and then narrowed. “Why didn't we feel anything? We should have noticed something like that, especially if it's something other than duel monster summons.” 

Yugi shrugged. “I am not certain.” he admitted. “From what Seto told me, the agents are having hard time pin-pointing the exact source of the disturbance, also adding the fact that it's not around here.”

“Ah.” Yami nodded in understanding. “By 'not around here' I'll assume he means different country.”

“Got that one.” Yugi blew some strands of his hair from his face. “And since we're not tied down by any responsibilities here-”

Yami raised an eyebrow. Yugi continued undeterred.

“-and not 'heading a multi-billion dollar company' by Seto's words; we are the best chance they got to track down the mysterious disturbance.”

“And if it's giving some of Kaiba's best issues, who else to send but the strongest Shadow users.” Yami finished.

“Not that he'd willingly admit that to be true, but yes.” Yugi poked Yami in ribs lightly, signalling that he wanted him to get up.

Yami moved with ease, getting up and grabbing both of their mugs and rinsing them in the sink. 

“So, where are we to be headed?”

Yugi smirked at this. “England.”

“I see.” Yami put the mugs in the drying rack.. “Do you want to leave immediately?”

“I don't see why not. It should be evening there right now, seems like a good time. The Shadows will provide better cover than during the day.” Yugi also stood up and and pushed the chair back under the table.

“Right on that.” Yami nodded thoughtfully. “Do we have everything we need?”

“I believe so.” Yugi felt where their decks rested in the holsters on the belts.

“Then let's do it.” Yami went to stand in front of him and offered him his hand. “Shall we, my King?” he asked with a smile.

Yugi grasped the hand easily, offering a grin in return. “Of course, my Pharaoh.”

The shadows seemed to grow out from under them and together they disappeared from the kitchen and Japan.


	2. The Resolve

They stepped out from the Shadows into an alleyway. Sickly green and yellow light illuminated some of it, courtesy of the flickering street lights on the main street. It gave the place an eerie vibe that wouldn't be out of place in a horror flick. 

'Charming.' Yami thought dryly.

By silent agreement they had simultaneously decided to first go to London. It wasn't to say that the phenomenon originated in the city, but it would give them a good starting point. And in their experience, most populated areas were always the more likely targets in whatever schemes their various adversaries came up with.

“Yami...” Yugi trailed off. 

“Yeah, I can feel it too.” his other self nodded. A sense of wrongness that shouldn't be here. The Shadows were trying to curl closer around them and seemed agitated. Disconcerting, to say the least.

Yami's mind brushed against his. 'I think we should stay here and reach out first. It's safer than approaching it head-on.' 

'Yeah. I have never felt anything like this before. It feels unnatural.' Yugi's brow creased. It was bothering the Pharaoh too, which was especially concerning, as there wasn't much that could surprise the old spirit by this point.

They tightened the hold on each others' hands, fingers entwining, and closed their eyes. It would act as a focal-point for their powers to unite, or as close as they could get, without mind-melding.

Yugi let his senses flare out, trailing across the ground and spreading out at an alarming speed. He felt Yami's power doing the same, wrapping around and through him. He released a shaky breath, unconsciously squeezing Yami's hand tighter. His other half's power was breathtakingly beautiful, the darkness winding around his soul with extreme care and seeping deeper. It wrapped around him like a comforting hug and he stood still for a minute, basking in it's presence. 

To his right, Yami was experiencing something similar. His partner's magic... the light seeped into the very cracks of his soul, filling him with warmth, affection and strenght. It was overwhelming, loving and fierce. 

And in this moment, they were complete and unstoppable. 

They reached out, greeting the Shadows around them that were all too eager to help out their Lords. They enthusiastically ran along, like curious children, guiding them around in this foreign place. It was like having a complete map of the place in their head, stretching out in every direction all around them, and they were at the centre of it. 

People on the street, walking, talking, families laughing, every car driving past; they all whispered their secrets to them. After all, who could hide from the Shadows? 

And yet. There was the curious absence of Shadows at the far end of their reach. The place that felt so fundamentally wrong and empty. 

It was almost like the Shadows were avoiding the place, strangely afraid to skirt any closer than the very edges of the source. Questioningly brushing against them, they received a mix of jumbled feelings of apprehension and confusion from the Shadows, as well as hesitation to venture closer. 

The place felt cold and devoid of everything, like a black hole.

By a silent agreement they withdrew, pulling the power back into their soul. The Shadows gave them the equivalent of a mental nudge, silently questioning. They replied with a wave of reassurance. They would take care of the problem, whatever it was, they would just collect more information first. 

Satisfied for the moment, the Shadows calmed, going back to their normal dormant state of silent observation, content to wait until their Masters would call upon them again.

*-*-*

Yugi opened his eyes with a gasp. Sweat was trickling down his temple and he leaned against the wall taking deep breaths. 

'Okay there, partner?' Yami voiced in his head.

Yugi nodded once and released Yami's hand to wipe down the sweat on his forehead. He grimaced and wished he could take a shower right now.

'Yeah. I just always seem to forget how intense the feeling is. Sometimes I wonder why we don't do it more often, but at times like these, I remember.' Yugi felt Yami's amusement and understanding.

Separately, their powers over Shadows were great, each having their own pull over them, and they were the only ones to be able to control them with such efficiency. That was due to their part of being the main force by which the Shadows were tied to this world, effectively making them their monarchs. 

However, only when they united their soul did they achieve their true potential. Unfortunately, never without drawbacks; leaving them winded, exhausted or unconscious afterwards, depending on how much power they used. 

But; as the Shadows actually seemed to like them, their ultimate authority couldn't be challenged by anyone, unless the person was willing to endure extreme punishments from the Shadows themselves, if they felt their adored rulers were being threatened.

That was what led to the forming of their Court.

*-*-*

Every Millennium Item wielder had the potential to use the Shadow magic, and in some cases, no choice on the matter was given, if the Shadows themselves approved of the selection. With Yugi and Yami heading the tier, those they deemed their friends were almost automatically considered as another part of the ruling Court.

Thus, Seto being roped into the mess. He had however, long since simply given up on grumbling out denials, especially after Yami gained his own body, making the story that much harder to wave off as simple 'mad ramblings of his delusional rival'. 

And just like that, Seto had become something like a Second in Command for both of them. The Shadows seemed to like to refer to him as 'Prince', but neither Yugi nor Yami had managed to tell him that. Mostly because the thought of Seto being a Prince made them choke back laughter. So, Second in Command would do. Not that he would ever consider obeying their commands, not without a very good reason, but he would listen and take advice when serious matters were concerned. 

It was just added bonus that he also happened to head a multi-billion dollar company, making it that much easier to cover up some of the more ludicrous things they had to deal with. His hired agents were very good at balancing the press, media and 'bullshitting the public' as he put it.

And all Yugi and Yami had to do was duel him every once in a while. It was reasonable, considering the pay-off. 

Seto however was still hesitant to use the Shadow magic, unless he had thought up another way to try to incorporate it with his Duel Monsters technology. So far, it had been mostly unsuccessful, but if anyone could manage to pull something like that off, it would be him. 

With Seto came Mokuba. The Shadows seemed to adore him and lazy tendrils would always try to wrap around him and keep close, unless specifically requested not to. Mokuba even seemed to enjoy the affection, calling them his loyal puppies, something Seto would sneer at, while trying to hide a small smile.

And so Mokuba became their unofficially-official Duke.

*-*-*

“Right. I am just fine. It's just been a while.” Yugi assured Yami, leaning into his side. “We should probably call Seto though.”

“You're right. As curious as I am, I would rather warn him before we investigate this thing. In case something happens, he should at least know the basics.” Yami grasped at the jacket he had haphazardly thrown on his shoulders, searching for the phone he had placed into one of the pockets.

Quickly swiping it unlocked, he pulled up the contacts and found Seto's number. Clicking on call, he leaned more against the wall and put on the loud-speaker, immediately pulling the Shadows around them in a protective bubble. That way, no one would be able to listen to anything or overhear by accident.

Just a couple of beeps later they heard him.

“Mutou.”

“Kaiba. Charming as usual. Did we wake you?” Yami smirked, before wincing when Yugi not-so-gently elbowed his ribs.

“Seeing as I am the head of the Company, I hardly ever sleep.” Came the impatient growl. “I assume you found something?”

Yami straightened suddenly, all traces of humour gone. “We did. It... Well.” He paused.

“It's weird.” Yugi put in. “We're in London right now and the disturbance is definitely coming from around here. We just wanted to let you know that we'll be investigating closer. Since we don't know what we're dealing with, we thought to give you heads up if something happens.”

“Describe 'weird'.” Kaiba said, voice terse.

Yami hurried to explain. “It's like an empty field. But not natural. Even the Shadows skirt around it and we can sense their confusion, which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. What would the Shadows honestly have to fear? It's like a dead space, which is something I've never heard of before.” 

“And you want to venture closer to it.” Kaiba dead-panned. “Are you idiots or just stupid?”

Yugi tilted his head. “I can understand your unwillingness to do that Seto, but the field itself doesn't seem harmful. We sensed no malice from it or anything similar. I don't think it would harm us.”

“Now you've jinxed it.” Seto muttered under his breath.

“What did you say?”

“I said fine. Just don't expect me to care if you wind up dead. I will however personally resurrect you from the dead if that happens, if only to kick your asses and laugh.” With that the call ended and they were both left staring at it silently.

Finally Yugi snickered. “Aw, he really does care!” He said, batting his eyelashes exaggeratedly at the now-silent phone, his hand pressed over his heart. 

Yami's quiet laughter joined him. “He is a good friend. Even if he acts like he wants nothing to do with us.”

Yugi hummed his agreement. He turned his head towards the alleyway entrance. “Shall we go and do what we came here for?”

“Yes. No sense in waiting.”

*-*-*

They decided to Shadow-travel to cover most of the distance, but still appeared about ten-minute walk away from the actual spot, just to be on the safe side. They pulled the Shadows around them to cloak their presences from possible bystanders. Yami let his arms rest by his sides, while Yugi wound his around Yami's arm. 

They walked forward, noticing how with each passing step the air seemed to grow heavier and the dozens of small noises from the busy city seemed to die down. 

Much more noticeable were the Shadows that had been following them, suddenly slowing and eventually stopping their crawl. They kept moving forward, but couldn't suppress the shiver that run down their spines. Being disconnected from the Shadows felt unnatural. A place where the Shadows wouldn't enter. They were very close.

It soon left them at their goal, standing in a park near a pond, silvery mist winding around them like a cigarette smoke.

Yugi's grip on Yami's arm tightened. It felt like it was hard to breathe. There was a pressure squeezing down on them almost trying to force them down.

Except...

It wasn't really a pressure, as much as a pulling sensation. And it seemed to come from the pond, that they suddenly noticed was unnaturally still and mirror-like.

'Partner..' Yami trailed off, seeing Yugi's eyes intently fixated on the pond's reflective surface. He looked transfixed. 

The previously smooth surface had begun to ripple. And now Yami could hear faint whispers coming from it. Like many voices talking at once, there was no rhyme or reason to them and he was incapable of understanding what they wanted.

Startled, he realized that he had unconsciously sat down and leaned closer; his hand was almost touching the surface of the pond. He fought angrily, snarling at nothing and broke out of the strange compulsion; but he wasn't fast enough to stop Yugi.

'Partner!' He exclaimed, but it was too late as Yugi's hand connected to the surface. 

'Yami.. They sound afraid. I want to help.' Yugi's thoughts were strangely silent and almost dream-like.

'Yugi!' There was no way to pull him back now. The silvery substance had it's claws on him and was pulling him in. It looked like he was falling through the fog into abyss below.

As a last desperate measure, he quickly pulled out a single card from his pocket and tossed it to the ground, as he too was pulled into the pond.

“Find Kaiba! Tell him what happened!” He ordered sharply, before disappearing under the surface and knew nothing more.

*-*-*

The robed figure suddenly lurched forward widely awake, trying to figure out what had awakened him from his well-deserved nap and what that awful, screeching noise was.

He turned his head to glare at the desk, only to stop short and stare at the small device on the corner of the table with incomprehension.

He glanced at the side where his partner was still somehow asleep and snoring impressively. 

“Croaker!” He hissed, nudging his elder. “Croaker! Damn it, wake up!” 

The man at his side jerked forward at a particularly nasty jab. “I wasn't sleeping! I just lost something under the table!” He muttered, shuffling the papers and peering around with bleary eyes.

“It's me, moron!” he rolled his eyes. “This,” he pointed at the spinning device. “Why is it doing that?”

Croaker didn't appear to hear him, however. His eyes were slowly getting wider as he kept staring at the device.

“Croaker?”

“It's an alarm for when something changes into it's respectively connected room.” The man finally spoke, tearing his eyes away from it, to look at his companion.

“I've never seen this one go off.” The younger man furrowed his brows. 

“That's just it.” Croaker said. “This one in particular...”

“Just spit it out, old man!”

Croaker looked at him with uncertainty shining in his eyes. “We better get someone from the higher-ups.” He paused.

“This device is connected to the room that holds The Veil.”

The two Unspeakables shared a look before bolting for the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just gonna post a chapter a day until I run out of pre-written chapters. And then the updates will be much less frequent. Probably.


	3. The Confusion

*-*-*

Yugi became aware to the sensation of cool concrete under his cheek and the belated realisation that he was laying down. Wind was curling around him, messing up his hair and flapping his jacket. 

The next feeling that came with the increasing awareness of the world around him, was the unquestionable sensation of a killer headache at the back of his skull. It persisted, now that his attention was drawn to it, and he spent a couple of moments drawing in deep breaths to try and push it away.

His hand curled into a fist and he drew his arm closer to his chest and could feel the pounding of his heart as well as the fact that he was shivering. His thoughts were surprisingly calm for the rather unusual situation, if a bit sluggish, and a voice in his head, that sounded suspiciously like Anzu, was telling him that he was probably in shock.

He used his arm as a leverage and pushed himself up, an action that left him surprisingly winded, making him slump backwards, feeling incredibly grateful when his head collided with a wall and not the street. 

He tried to open his eyes, managing only to briefly see the alley he was apparently in, before he had to squeeze them shut again. He hissed through his teeth when his headache flared back to life with increasing ferocity. 

A stray corner of his mind was wondering if he had gotten drunk again and started a duel; an experience that had left him feeling remarkably similar to how he felt right now, and something he hadn't had a desire to repeat anytime soon. He had almost lost his deck that day out of sheer stupidity, while wandering around an unknown city during one of Seto's tournaments that had taken place in America. The fact that he had done the wandering after playing a game involving way too many shots with an extremely cheerful bunch of duelists, well, it probably hadn't helped.

The only reason he had even survived the experience afterwards - which involved turning up the next evening and still feeling the hangover, being absolutely chewed out by his concerned friends, Seto, and even some security guards for not responding to his phone - was because Yami had gone along with him.

Yami...

Yami! 

His eyes sprung open. He growled, pressing his hand to his forehead and stubbornly fighting the dizzy feeling that almost made him black out again. The wetness near his brow made him pull back his hand and he squinted at it in the relative darkness, surprised to find blood coating it. Well, that explained why his head felt like it was split open.

He shook his head, immediately regretting the decision, as it left his vision swimming. His eyes closed and he didn't try to fight them, instead seeking out the mind link with Yami. His thoughts were slow and unclear, and for the life of him he couldn't remember what exactly had happened and how he had ended up here. 

He prodded around his mind, feeling the tendrils of the link. Finding it, he immediately latched onto it only to be stopped short when he couldn't feel anything over it, a complete silence greeting him.

He couldn't feel it.

He couldn't feel him. 

He couldn't feel Yami.

His breath was coming out in short gasps, catching over a lump in his throat, heartbeat sounding loud in his own ears and the blood rushing to his head was making him feel light-headed. 

Frantically he sunk down into his mind, seeking out his soul room. He hadn't done so in a good while, having no need for it - not since Yami had gained his own physical body anyway - their mind-link was all they needed.

He opened his eyes to the bright room that represented his soul, giving a curt glance around and noting that it was in a disarray, probably attributing to his current less-than-spectacular physical and mental well-being. He didn't spare it much thought to it however, bolting across the room and wrenching open the door, almost falling face first into the corridor that connected his and Yami's soul. 

The door.. He crossed the corridor and found Yami's soul room's door right where it would usually be. Unlike other times however, it was tightly shut and covered in Shadow tendrils. 

He couldn't remember the last time Yami's doors were shut. They always left them wide open to let their emotions flow freely between them.

Yugi reached out his trembling hand and let one of the tendrils curl itself around his fingers. He brought his hand back closer to his face while cooing and muttering silently to the fledgling Shadow, letting it brush against his jumbled thoughts and pushing forward the questions. 

He got a mixed feelings of confusion and some fear, but also something akin to reassurance, the Shadow being able to sense it's Master's worry. 

They couldn't enter the room.

Confusion. 

Anger at being unable to reach their Master. 

Anger at the fact that he was hurt. 

Anger at the fact that the balance was threatened. 

Light and Dark separated was bad. 

A flicker of hope because they could feel their other Master's energy. 

It was faint and far away. 

But Shadows were everywhere. 

Those closer would take care of the Master until the other Master could find him. 

Yugi had to take a minute after the experience. The Shadows were many and overwhelming, their thoughts coming to him from each and every direction making his headache worse. 

After processing the hurricane of thoughts, he picked out the most important bits and gave a choked sob of relief, his knees giving out on him and collapsed next to the door. They said that Yami was okay. Not here, but somewhere. He was probably unconscious, which would explain the disturbance in connection. 

But he was okay.

And that was all Yugi cared about. His sobs gave way to shaky, just slightly hysterical-sounding laughter. The frightening emptiness was still present in the space where Yami would usually be, but now he knew why. 

They would be fine. But he had to find his other self first. If Yugi was in this condition and had woken up first, who knew how Yami was faring. Plus, he didn't even remember why he was like this. He had to find him, now.

If Yugi had given it more thought, and if he hadn't been suffering from shock, confusion and a possible concussion, he might have tried seeking out a phone to call Seto. As it was, the thought never occurred to him, the rational thinking being overshadowed by the figurative hole in his mind that Yami should filling.

However, now that he had a clearer goal in his mind; to find Yami no matter what; he focused and pulled his consciousness back into his body.

As the awareness of his limbs returned to him, so did the realization that the position he was in was extremely uncomfortable. He gave a wince. 'I will definitely feel that in the morning. Along with everything else.'

He also noticed the concerned Shadows hovering all around him. Some had even settled themselves around his body and he could feel others weaving themselves through his hair and wrapping around the injury, seemingly kneading the flesh back together. He hadn't known they could do that.

'Thank you.' He sent, feeling startled. They were being surprisingly interactive and more agitated than ever. Whatever had happened, had displeased them greatly, but they didn't seem to know who to direct their anger at, so they contended themselves by making sure he was alright.

“Right. Come on then.” He muttered, as he got up. “Show me where to find him.”

The Shadows seemed to waver for a moment in indecision, before gathering themselves together and latching at him. 

Definitely an unusual behaviour from their part. They usually let him have the control. He must be worse off than he thought.

He felt the tendrils attaching themselves at his very soul and a pulling sensation followed. The Shadows were forming a portal and would take him as close to Yami as they could. 

Yugi had to shake his head in amazement. He had never really realized just how sentient they were. But, considering that they were largely influenced by the Realm's occupants – the Duel Monsters – who were all highly-intelligent creatures; maybe it shouldn't be so surprising.

He stepped forward and let the Shadows take the lead, trusting them to lead him to his other half.

*-*-*

Severus Snape stepped into the Order headquarters through the fireplace, a frown having affixed itself firmly on his face. He didn't appreciate Albus calling him here while he was in the middle of brewing a very sensitive potion, especially since it was Albus who had requested he brew it in the first place.

He did however raise an eyebrow, surprised to find himself in the middle of a large crowd. It seemed that every available Order member that wasn't otherwise seriously engaged had been called here. The chattering was loud and overwhelming; it seemed that like him, everyone was wondering why they had been called in.

“It's probably another attack from Voldemort!” Hissed the familiar and exceedingly annoying voice of one Sirius Black, somehow managing to be louder than everyone else in the room. “I keep telling you, it's been too quiet!”

Lupin, who had been listening, opened his mouth to say something, but he cut in.

“Not like you would know what 'quiet' means.” Severus drawled, lip curling in a sneer.

Black immediately whipped around to face him, eyes narrowed and angry.

“Snivellus.” He pulled a face. “I thought I smelled something foul. Turns out, it's just your greasy ass.”

“Of course you did. Makes me wonder why you don't spend more time in your natural form as a dog.” Black bristled but held back, miraculously. 

“Tell me, did you get called back to the little band of merry Death Eaters? Had a tea party where you discussed your latest crimes and ways to ruin lives? ” Black sneered. 

“And yet, at least I am not stuck in this place and don't cause trouble, which is something you excel at. Nor have I ruined any lives today, unlike you.”

He had to hide a satisfactory smirk when Black tried to lunge at him and had to be physically restrained by Lupin.

'Pathetic.' He thought. Black was getting more easily irritable every time he stepped into the Headquarters. That probably had to do with the fact that Albus had strictly forbidden him from leaving the place.

He was distracted from further insults however, because just then, Albus came strolling in from wherever he had been, further in the house. Almost immediately the people around the table exploded with questions.

“Why are we all here today?”

“Albus, is everything alright?”

“There hasn't been an attack, right? I would have heard something.”

The muttering continued and Albus had to raise a hand to make everyone quiet down. 

“I am sorry to have called you here on such a short notice, but I've been made aware of some troubling news.” He gestured forward. “Kingsley, if you would.”

The wizard in question nodded to him and stood up, drawing the attention to himself.

He began talking, all business. “Earlier this night, a disturbance occurred in one of the ante-chambers in the Ministry of Magic. Some sort of unrecognisable magical signature was recorded passing through a pathway near the Hall of Prophecies.” He paused meaningfully, letting the information sink in. 

All of the Order members were more or less aware of the significance of this. The prophecy concerning Harry Potter was a huge deal and everyone knew how much the Dark Lord sought to gain it.

“But, nothing was taken, right?” One Nymphadora Tonks piped up, her hair immediately brightening to neon pink when everyone looked her way.

Kingsley shook his head and resumed talking. “No; I believe that everything was checked, but I am unable to confirm for sure. The only ones who seem to be aware of what's happening are the Unspeakables and they are at a complete uproar. But that's all I've been able to learn. We all know how talkative they are.” He finished with a frown. 

Albus picked up the conversation from there. “What truly concerns me, is the unknown magical signature. We have no sure way of knowing if it's something Voldemort has come up with.”

Severus sneered when some of the members shuddered at the mention of the Dark Lord's name.

“Severus,” the Headmaster continued, and he nodded his head curtly to show he was listening. “I assume you haven't heard anything from the Death Eaters?”

He had to shake his head. “No. But the Dark Lord hasn't been open with anyone about his plans lately, not even the Inner Circle. He is still very,” He had to think for a word to use, “unhappy with his followers after the last war. If this is truly someone new who has allied themselves with him that was responsible for this, we won't know until he deems it necessary for us to know.”

Albus nodded, clearly having expected the answer. 

“I would ask all of you who work at the Ministry to keep your ears open for any rumours. It could be nothing, but in these troubled times we can't risk writing something like this off as unimportant.” He said.

There was muttered agreements from around the table. Some looked to be deep in thought. 

The Ministry had records of mostly every type of magic that had ever been used. Various magical signatures had to be monitored closely to be able to discern if it was accidental magic being used, a strong magical artefact making appearance, or a new- found species of a magical creature turning up; there was equipment in place to help determine these things. For something like the Unspeakables - who dealt with some of the most obscure magics that the general population didn't even know of - to be running around like headless chickens in blind panic; it didn't bode well.

“Thank you everyone.” Albus said gravely. “We will have our next meeting at the scheduled time, unless something happens.” He smiled, but the usual twinkle in his eyes was absent. “If you have any other matters that need addressing, please stay behind.”

The meeting was pretty much over now. Severus stood and gave a nod at the Headmaster's direction. He didn't have anything else that needed to be said, so he would gladly go back to his potion and possibly a glass of brandy. He didn't fancy staying in this dreadful place any more than he had to.

*-*-*

To Yami consciousness returned slowly. He spent long moments seemingly floating through a daze. Flashes on light bounced across his mind intercepted by brief moments of comforting darkness that he tried to hold on to, but they slipped like smoke through his figurative fingertips.

He needed to wake up.

Why? He silently wondered.

Being knocked out probably meant that something had gone terribly wrong. He needed to be awake and assess the situation. He couldn't protect anyone while being out cold.

Protect..?

Yes. He had responsibilities to attend to and people to protect. Grandpa would be worried, depending on how long he had been out of contact and Kaiba would chew his ears off if he had gotten into another stunt that his Public Relations team would be required to fix.

Even Mokuba's puppy-dog eyes wouldn't help them if Kaiba was pissed off.

Them. His Light. His precious partner. The most important person in his life. 

He forced his eyes open through sheer power of will. A quick glimpse around confirmed that there was no one else around and that he was propped up against a wall. 

'Ow...' His brain seemed to want to escape his skull.

There were Shadows hovering all around him, suddenly excited and rushing toward him and enveloping him in the equivalent of a hug. He smiled at them crookedly, listening to their excited whispers, but was suddenly overwhelmed by the crushing wave of emotions that came from the mind-link.

'Yami!' A feeling of immense relief came, almost cancelling out everything else. But he could still pick up confusion, exhaustion and pain underneath it.

'Yugi...' He sent back comfort and reassurance, letting their minds meld closer than usual, trying to spread out the current between them and stabilize their emotions. 'What happened? Are you hurt?Where are you? And how did we get separated?' He asked in quick succession.

'I don't know. I don't remember much. And I'm okay, just have a bump on my head and feel like sleeping for a week.' Yugi chattered. 'Are you okay? The Shadows are trying to take me to you, but we're having trouble pin-pointing your location. There seems to be some sort of magical influence blocking you out.'

Yami blinked, trying to process his partner's rushed thoughts. 'I...' He faltered and tried to push back against the wall to stand up. He immediately stopped his attempts and hissed through his teeth, cursing his inability to recall what had in the name of Ra had happened.

'Yami?' Yugi's concerned voice brought him back to the matter at hand. 'I felt your pain. What's happening?'

'I think I might have some broken ribs.' Yami thought with a grimace. 

He gasped as he felt the physical pain to recede to a more manageable levels in mere seconds, Yugi taking on a share of it.

'Yugi! I know you're in pain too! You don't have to do this!' He felt exasperated amusement filter through the link from Yugi.

'I need to have you mobile. The sooner we meet up, the sooner we can figure things out and heal ourselves.' Yami bit his lip. He knew his Light was right, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He did refrain from saying anything, because even he had noticed how their powers were swaying unsteadily between themselves. They needed to be near each other for it to stabilize, otherwise the Shadows might hurt whoever was the closest around them.

The Shadows didn't take kindly to their Master's being hurt, and with the added pain muddling their emotions, they would absolutely lash out at what they perceived to be a threat. And at this moment, anyone would be judged as one.

'Yes.' He agreed reluctantly. 

He heaved himself up and clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms and leaving crescent-shaped marks behind. He felt Yugi's sympathetic wince, accompanied by the feeling of a hug. He brushed against his mind in return, relishing the comfort it provided.

'I think the Shadows have an idea as to where to go.' He sighed. 'Cloak yourself. Thankfully, it's still night-time. That will make it easier.'

He felt Yugi nod and concentrate. 

'I will find you.'

Yami smiled. 'I know you will.' 

With that, he took a breath and let the Shadows envelop him, as he took a step forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have one day to complete my college FMP. hahahahaha kill me


	4. The Exhaustion

*-*-*

Yami had stopped walking some time ago. It had taken a good while and some pleading from Yugi until he had pushed aside his pride and admitted that walking was doing them both more harm than good. His body was still screaming at him in protest of the abuse it had been put through.

As such, he had sat down on the ground at a nearby deserted park; deserted, because any normal human being was probably inside during this dreadful heat; and tried to retain what dignity he had left. 

He carefully shifted his legs, trying to find a position that wouldn't hurt as much. That proved to be much harder than he expected. 

With a grimace, he swept his hair to the side and tried his best to ignore the sweat dripping down his forehead. As much as he had tried to ignore it, he had made a horrible decision by keeping to his usual leather attire when coming to England. And why had he thought that wearing gold jewellery was a good idea? 

It would actually be pretty ironic, he mused, if after all the danger that they had faced, it would be a heat-stroke that killed them. Yami had to muffle a snort, not wanting to make his broken bones worse. He also carefully kept the thought from Yugi. They could laugh about it later, when they were out of danger. They had to keep focus. Which was much easier said than done, really.

He still kept a watchful eye on the Shadows around him, however. It wouldn't do to expose himself to any innocent bystanders or draw the Shadows' attention to any potential victims while they were still restlessly flickering around him, looking to relieve their agitation.

'You said you're at a park?' Yugi's thoughts filtered in.

'Yeah.' Yami squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated, pushing an image across the link. Yugi sent back a wave of gratefulness and affection.

'Good.' Came a hum. 'I think I'm not far off anymore. I can sort of see some of the buildings from here. Are you doing alright?'

Yami gave a sigh of relief. 'Whatever magical presence was responsible for this, I'm at least glad we weren't dropped off at different sides of the country.' That would have been bad. And not just for them. 'And I'm alive, which is really all I can say for now.'

'Hmm.' Yugi acknowledged unhappily. 'Awfully convenient though, isn't it? The us being in the same place thing, I mean.' Yugi asked.

'I'll take 'convenient' for now and deal with all the other shit later.' Yami said.

Yugi's voice sounded tired in their shared minds. 'What makes you think there's more to come?' He asked with a yawn.

Yami frowned in concern. As bad off as he was, at least it was easier to stay awake thanks to the pain. What Yugi had was most definitely a concussion. He could feel the exhaustion weighing down heavily upon them. He had to keep him distracted and talking.

'Yugi, it's us. There's always more to deal with.' He smiled at the mental snort he received.

'Yeah, okay you got a point.' Yugi said, agreeably.

Yami sniffed. 'Of course I do, it's me.'

He could feel the mental eye-roll directed at him and huffed out a laugh, before giving another wince. 

'So modest.' Yugi teased.

He was about to reply, when he looked up at the far end of the park. His lips parted to give a quiet exhale. 'I think I see you!' 

The figure in distance lifted his head and scanned the land before him, squinting in the relative darkness. His felt a wave of relief wash over their mind link as Yugi's eyes found his and gave a small and exhausted, but honest smile. 

Yami had given up on trying to stand for now, instead just taking in his partner's appearance as he approached. His eyes narrowed and he growled lowly, taking in all the details. 

Yugi looked even worse than he had sounded, his hair haphazard, jacked ripped in places and dirty. Dried blood had left a trail from his forehead, running down to his chin and messing up the kohl. He had bags under his eyes and was swaying with every step he took. The only reason he was still upright was probably because of the Shadows who were propping him up from the sides. He looked like death warmed over.

Yami glowered at the sky. Whoever had done this to Yugi would pay. In a way that would leave them needing more than professional help. Unless that help included a professional mortician.

Because he would kill them. 

He felt a mental poke, accompanied by dry amusement. 'Sleep first, murder later, Yami.'

By now Yugi was in a hearing-distance from him. Yami called upon the Shadows around him and they responded willingly enough, allowing him to prop himself up. However, even that put a considerable strain on his leftover power reserves and left him panting and and scowling. The last time he had been this low on power had been.. never. Yes, he had his fair share of near-death experiences, but never had he felt as helpless as he did right now.

Which looped him back to the constant burning question he had been asking since he woke up. What, by the gods, had happened?

He was forced to leave that question for later as Yugi stumbled the last few steps, reaching out towards him and Yami caught him easily; not falling over only because he had leaned against a tree; and pulled him close, despite the fact that his ribs were screaming at him in protest. 

He let the Shadows lower them on the ground, already feeling much calmer now that they were back together. Even the Shadows quieted, content to let them recover while looking out for their surroundings.

“Yugi.” He lifted his hand and gently brushed his knuckles against his partner's cheek, following the path of dried blood. 

He also took the opportunity to examine the source of it. The cut rested right above Yugi's left brow, and went up in an uneven line until it disappeared in his hair. He could also see Shadow tendrils still clinging to it and realised that they had been trying to mend it. It wasn't perfect and it would scar, but at least it wasn't bleeding anymore.

“Mmm, Yami. Wake me up sometime next year. October sound good, yeah?” Yugi muttered, leaning into his touch, his hazy eyes slipping closed.

Yami lowered his head and let his cheek press against his partner's hair, holding him tighter. 

“We can definitely do that.” He promised. “But first, we really need to heal ourselves. And I can't do it alone right now.” He said, frustration evident in his voice. Was this how normal people felt in these situations? Having to wait until someone showed up to help them and having to helplessly watch as they could do nothing to help themselves.

Yugi didn't object verbally. But he did give a mental groan as he sat up and chuckled miserably. “I haven't felt this bad since that time we decided to stay up for that charity livestream event and didn't sleep for 72 hours.” 

“At least that time we didn't suffer from any physical injuries, though.”

“Touché.” Yugi fished his deck out of the holster and pulled out a card without even looking at it. He held one of the ends toward Yami, who grasped it. Together, they closed their eyes and focused what little magical energy they had left in them to summon their friend.

In a shimmer of light, a woman with light blue skin, clad in green robes appeared before them. She gasped at the sight in front of her. Immediately kneeling, she stretched out her arms before them and closed her eyes, muttering in a melodic language that sounded like a song. 

From her hands a light flashed and seemed to sink into their bodies, weaving through them, mending and fixing whatever injuries it could find. A small eternity later, which was probably just a couple of minutes but felt that much longer due to the energy drain, she was done, and the light receded. 

Both Yami and Yugi leaned back, utterly exhausted, but now it had more to do with the mental strain and magical exhaustion, their physical injuries having been taken care of.

'Thank you.' They both sent, sincerity colouring their thoughts. The Mystical Elf bowed deeply before them and disappeared.

*-*-*

They both took a minute, enjoying the sensation of breathing freely without pain accompanying their every exhale. 

Their thoughts, no longer clouded by pain and a shared concussion, began to align. It was then that Yugi suddenly stiffened in Yami's hold. He sent a questioning mental nudge in return.

“Seto is going to kill us.” Yugi whispered. “It's been hours since we talked to him.” 

“Shit.” Was Yami's eloquent contribution. That summed it up pretty nicely, in his opinion. However, neither made a move to grab the phone yet.

“Yami,” Yugi started hesitantly, after a moment of silence. “I.. remember us calling Seto..but not the reason why.. or anything after that.”

Yami was quiet for a minute. 

“Ah. And there's the other shit.” He finally sighed.

“Huh?” Yugi twisted his head, lifting it from Yami's chest, where he had collapsed after the healing, to peer into his eyes questioningly. Yami silently mourned the sudden lack of weight.

He twisted his neck to the side and released a sigh when it gave a satisfying crack. “Remember when I said earlier that we would deal with 'other shit' later? Well, here it is. I don't remember anything either.”

“Oh.” Yugi simply stated. He leaned back against Yami. “We should probably call Seto.”

“You're probably right.” Yami used his right hand to dig around his pockets, his left carefully supporting Yugi's side to make sure he wouldn't fall off. He let out a silent cheer when his efforts were rewarded and the phone hadn't been damaged in any way. Not that he had thought it would have been, Kaiba wouldn't stand for that sort of sub-par technology. This phone would likely survive the apocalypse.

He unlocked the phone and immediately hissed out a curse as the screen blinded him. Hurriedly he turned the brightness as low as it would go, before going to the call logs and dialling Kaiba's number.

After a couple of seconds the call disconnected itself. Yami stared at the phone in confusion. His eyes flickered to the little bars indicating the signal strength and frowned when he saw they were completely non-existent. 

He tried again, with the same success. Then he tried calling Jou. Anzu. Honda. The Game shop. Duke.

All had the same outcome. 

“Yami? What's wrong?” Yugi asked, and he just now noticed how his left hand was clenching at Yugi's jacket.

He released his death grip and smoothed the fabric down. “I can't call anyone.” Another glance at the phone told him he had missed another significant thing. “There's no signal. And no internet data connection. It's like it can't connect to anything.”

Blinking rapidly, Yugi stared at him with wide eyes. “But that shouldn't even be possible!” He exclaimed, before nervously glancing around and lowering his voice. “Seto's phones are the best in the world. And since this was a personal.. ahh.. gift from him, there's pretty much nothing that in existence that could hinder it's functions.”

Yami shook his head slowly, his eyes flickering to Yugi's. “I don't know, partner.” He glanced around the park, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable and unwilling to stay here. “We better move.” He advised. “We can find a hotel, rent a room and sleep to regain our strength. There's no way we can pull off a Shadow travel to the other side of the globe right now. We can worry about that in the morning.”

Yugi worried his lip, but gave a reluctant nod, seeing the plan as a necessary one.

They stood up, or more like wobbled and barely resisted falling over, and slung their arms around each others' shoulders to provide some support. Together they stumbled to the side of the park where they could see some of the street lights flickering.

Yami gave a side-glance to his partner who looked like he would fall asleep on his feet any minute now. He would have happily carried him, but right now he could barely stand upright himself.

He shivered, the night air suddenly pressing down upon him and giving him goosebumps. Was that a side effect of the magical exhaustion or something else? Pressing closer to Yugi, he became aware that his partner was also shivering and his breath was leaving his lips and forming condensation in the air.

Okay. That was definitely not normal. It had been oppressively hot just a minute ago. The sudden chill felt foreboding and unnatural.

“Partner.” He whispered, eyes darting around the place. “Fuck.” He cursed uncharacteristically, spotting two figures in front of him, not far from where he was standing. Oh, he did not want to deal with more trouble right now.

“Mmpf.” Yugi mumbled, leaning heavily into his side, his eyes completely closed. His breaths were even more visible now and they were short and shallow.

Yami could feel why. There was a presence pressing down on their minds, trying to pull out their emotions: fear, bad memories and generally oppressing anything positive. Not that there was much positive about this situation to begin with. 

He did what he could, slamming the doors of their soul rooms shut and bolting them for extra measure of protection. That didn't seem to be helping however, as something that looked like black sludge was pressing against the cracks around their doors and trying to seep in.

“Wha...?” He snarled and his eyes blazed as he used the Shadows to grab onto the sludge and forcibly pull it out from their minds, ripping it apart.

There was a strange, strangled shriek, which forced him to turn his attention back to the outside world.

His eyes opened; when had he closed them?; and he came face to face with a being that wouldn't belong even in the Shadow realm. It looked like something out of nightmares. A tall, gaunt figure floated over him, it's very aura reeking of death and misery. It floated towards them and reached out with it's skeletal hand, almost coming in contact with Yugi's shoulder.

Yami bared his teeth. 

“You will not touch him.” He spat menacingly, glaring hatefully at the abomination in front of him. Distantly, he heard one of the people he had seen before call out to him, but couldn't make out the words. To be honest, he had forgotten that they were even here. They were in for a show then, he thought grimly. There might be a hell to pay later for using his powers in front of non-Shadow users, but right now, he didn't and couldn't afford to care.

He dove deep into his soul and gathered the last renaming scarps of his reserves, firmly grasping the Shadows and pulling them closer and closer towards him. 

The creature was just millimetres from Yugi as he released his tight hold onto the Shadows and watched with wicked satisfaction, able to feel their emotions, as they gleefully and mercilessly launched themselves at the thing, crashing into it and tearing it into pieces.

He gave a choked laugh and realised that he had fallen to his knees. With the utmost care, he lowered Yugi on the ground, before his body completely gave out and he collapsed next to him.

'Oh, it's warm again..' Was his last coherent thought, before he lost consciousness for the second time that night.

Somewhere, Kaiba was probably laughing at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm like dying from hay-fever rn and also procrastinating my work. yay


	5. The Newcomers

*-*-*

Harry's day had started out pretty much the same as all the others this summer. Which, in this case, meant that it had been about as shit as it could get, when one was living in a house full of people who hated you. 

Sleeping peacefully had become a foreign concept after what had happened at the end of his school year. It was rare that he got a full-nights sleep without any interruptions and it only happened after he had utterly mentally exhausted himself to the verge of passing out.

As such, he had snuck outside during the early morning hours, not willing to stay around long enough to hear his aunt berate him for being a useless waste of space or his uncle glaring at him every time he so much as blinked.

He had contended himself to wandering around streets for a few hours, always sticking close to shadows, as any appearance that was noticed by the inhabitants of Little Whinging would undoubtedly get back to his relatives; given how everyone's' favourite pastime seemed to be gossiping; which would certainly 'tarnish their reputation' further. 

He rolled his eyes at the thought.

By early afternoon he had been forced to venture back to his relatives' garden, unwilling to risk a heat-stroke. It was undeniably the hottest day of the summer so far, and for the umpteenth time he cursed the Ministry's stupid laws, preventing him from using magic. 

He briefly wondered if he should have actually stayed in the sun and gotten the damn stroke; maybe then someone would be forced to show up and bring him to St. Mungo's; but he discarded the thought bitterly. 

Honestly, if anything, they would just bring the healer here and berate him for not taking care of himself. Or maybe they would just ignore him entirely. If he wasn't able to leave the house he couldn't cause trouble, no?

His mood soured further. Dumbledore and his bloody insistence on how he was 'safer' here... 

He stared at the cloudless, bright blue sky, shielding his eyes with his arm.

What he wouldn't give to have a cooling charm layered on him... Mmm... 

Even a bar of ice-cream would be appreciated right now...

At the thought of food his stomach grumbled uncomfortably. He scowled, closing his eyes and trying to focus his attention elsewhere.

''Safer', my ass.' Harry thought to himself. 'Maybe I should just die from starvation. That would show them how 'safe' I am.' 

Laying onto the flower patch underneath the open window of his relatives' house might not seem as the smartest thing to do, but at the same time there was really nowhere else for him to be. 

*-*-*

Days and months had passed, with barely any contact from his so-called best friends. Cryptic messages were the only thing that ever awaited him whenever he received post. And even the 'Daily Prophet' was proving to be utterly useless garbage at providing any actual information whatsoever, instead printing bullshit Ministry propaganda. 

He couldn't say what he had expected the Ministry to do after the events of the Triwizard tournament, but their sheer stupidity had caught him by surprise. They were vehemently denying or outright ignoring any mention he had brought up about Voldemort being back, instead painting him as an attention seeker or even mentally disturbed.

Discarding the thoughts for now, he briefly listened to his aunt and uncle talk about Dudley and had to try really hard to keep himself from snorting, when he listened to them gush about his fat pig of a cousin. They were delusional if they believed for a second in what Dudders told them. 

'I wonder if they know he was the one who beat up that kid two days ago. Mark...something.' He chewed on his lip for a moment, before shaking his head. 

Honestly, Dudley could probably beat up a kid right in front of his parents and they would claim the kid had tripped and fallen over; they were so deeply in denial.

As the news came on the TV, he shifted his focus, cocking his head and listening intently for any unusual or improbable events they might mention. He even stilled his breathing, just to make sure he wouldn't mishear anything.

However, not a minute later he let out a sigh of relief, feeling the tight pressure lift off his chest as the news reporter droned on about changes in the road layout or something, happening due to a new construction. 

If anything bad had happened, he had no doubt that would be the first thing they would focus on. 

And this was the point, at which his so far normal day waved a cheerful goodbye and fate decided that it was a grand time to mess with him.

He was jolted out from his peaceful misery by a loud crack echoing through the neighbourhood, like a whip. 

Harry immediately leapt on his feet, his eyes wide and the sudden spike of adrenaline making his heart race.

He barely avoided a nasty bruise, or worse, forcing himself to dodge sideways, out of the path of the still open window frame that his head almost made an acquaintance with. His aunt's shrill scream and his uncle's hissed cursing, accompanied by heavy footsteps, alerted him that now would be a good time to investigate the source of the crack and get the hell away.

He ran without looking back, his hand gripping the wand in his back pocket, but having enough sense to not pull it out. In the distance he could hear his uncle's uncomfortable-sounding laughter as he apparently tried to explain to their neighbours' that a car had gone off or some other crap.

If Harry rolled his eyes any more today, he got the feeling they would roll out of his skull. 

The crack had sounded extremely familiar and he was almost a hundred percent sure that it had been a wizard or a witch Apparating.

But after a while his certainty on the fact wilted away. Was he maybe just projecting what he wanted to hear? Any sign of the wizarding world would be welcome right now. How did he know for sure that it hadn't just been something breaking?

He stopped and leaned forward, hands on his knees helping him support his weight. He hadn't even been aware that he had been running, or where to. Blearily, he looked around and was mildly surprised to find himself right near the deserted play park. 

Giving a reluctant look over his shoulder, Harry shook his head and straightened, heading towards the park. He really didn't feel like going back to his relatives' house at the moment, where he would surely be grilled about the noise and probably get blamed for it.

He continued on his path, but instead of going to the park itself, he decided to head down the street, not in the mood of climbing over the fence to get in. 

Lost in his thoughts as he was, he didn't even realize that he was headed right towards a group of people until their voices forced him out of his reprieve.

'Oh great...' In front of him, not far from where he had stopped, was the unmistakable form of his cousin, followed by his loyal gang of bullies. 

He stepped out of the way, hiding behind one of the large trees that grew all around the park. Luckily for him, the group was so absorbed at recalling what was without a doubt today's 'lesson', as they called it, that they hadn't even noticed him.

Harry liked to call it by its' proper name: 'beating up little kids, barely half their age'.

He watched as the group laughed uproariously at Gordon's mocking impression of the poor kid they had targeted today; recounted in a ridiculously squeaky and high-pitched voice. 

He lifted an eyebrow and sneered in disgust. Unfortunately, he wasn't really able to help any of the victims, but most of the kids around already knew to run if they spotted his cousin or any of his lackeys.

He watched as they rounded the corner, before following the group stealthily. Probably not the best idea, but he was curious to see if they would bring up any plans for tomorrow. Maybe he could actually warn the next victim on their list.

Then again, most of the neighbourhood knew him as the hardened criminal that had to go to a special school for bullies, so maybe the kid would run before he got the chance. Harry shrugged. At least it would ensure that the kid would stay out of the way, in fear of encountering him.

He wondered what the wizarding world would think if they learned about the reputation he had gathered in the muggle world, thanks to his 'loving' relatives; a though that served to amuse him.

At least Sirius would definitely find it somewhat funny. The man's sense of humour was a bit warped.

*-*-*

Unfortunately for his plan, the gang appeared to be splitting up for the night.

Harry waited, hiding behind a bush, as he watched Gordon, Pierce and lackeys number three and four say their goodbyes to Dudley and wander off.

Only when they were a good distance away did he pick up a pace and jogged until he caught up with his cousin.

“Dudders!” He called mockingly. He was in a really shit mood tonight, and he knew that Dudley was terrified enough of him that he wouldn't dare trying to do something. Although, a part of him wished that he would. Just to see what would happen.

He saw Dudley stiffen, his face pulling itself into an ugly sneer as his eyes flicked towards Harry. 

“You.” He muttered unhappily.

“Yes, Diddykins. That's a pronoun.” He clapped his hands together. “Good job! I see your education is really paying for itself!” Harry watched with petty glee as his cousin's face turned a nice shade of purple, eerily reminiscent of how Vernon got when he was angry. 

It felt good to vent his frustrations. 

Dudley's hands were clenched into fists and he glowered, trying to appear more menacing. It was a good effort, if Harry had been at all scared of him. He wasn't.

“Shut it, scar-face.” 

“Ohhh, took you a while to think of that one, huh?”

“I said. Shut. It.”

Dudley appeared to be trying very hard to restrain himself from punching Harry. That had to be taking a lot of effort, seeing that his cousin's usual policy was 'punch stuff first; ask questions later'. 

Maybe he was actually using his brain for once, Harry marvelled.

“You think you're really brave, huh?” Dudley asked suddenly, his mouth curled into a nasty smirk. “Think you're all high-and-mighty? ”

“Whatever do you mean?” Harry spread his arms out in a decidedly innocent gesture.

“Not so brave during the nights though, are you?” Dudley's face had split into a full grin by now, as he took in Harry's rapidly paling face. He had a good idea as to what Dudley might be talking about. 

A tiny corner of his brain was pointing out that it was his fault he had ended up in this situation in the first place, a thought he firmly showed away.

“Don't.” He silently stated.

Dudley didn't appear to have heard him, instead pitching his voice in a piercing falsetto. “Cedric! Oh, Cedric! Don't kill Cedric!” He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead in a theatrical gesture. “He's gonna kill me! Dad! Noooo!”

The air around Harry was prickling with magic and he hadn't even drawn a wand. Dudley still didn't seem to notice anything out of ordinary. He had to shut him up, and fast, otherwise his magic, reacting to his emotions, would blast him across the street and knock him out.

And he did not want to have that conversation with his relatives.

He took several deep breaths and forced the anger to quell. He unclenched his hands from where he had drawn them in fists and was about to turn around and leave when an unnatural chill ran down his spine.

“-e's dead! He's -” Harry suddenly shot his hand out and firmly clasped it over his cousin's mouth, shocking him into sudden silence as he frantically flickered his eyes from one side to another.

“T'e fc'k 'tter?” 

“Shut up, Dudley!” He hissed out. His sudden outburst seemed to surprise his cousin and thankfully he shut up for long enough to notice that there was something very wrong with the picture.

Harry cursed himself for not noticing the sudden darkening of the skies sooner, or the dead-silence and first touch of cold chill that were the warning signs. 

But who could honestly blame him? 

After all, Dementors in Surrey? 

He removed his hand from Dudley's face, absently wiping his palm in his pants, his other hand fishing out and firmly grasping the wand. Even Dudley had noticed the sudden state of alertness that Harry was in, and for once, was intelligent enough to realize that it wasn't him that was responsible.

“Harry?” He whispered, his forehead breaking out in cold sweat, arms drawn up as if he expected to punch the invisible enemy. Harry could have laughed.

“Dementors, Dudders.” He saw Dudley throw a half-annoyed, half-terrified glance his way. “Basically, very, very bad news.”

He took a deep breath and raised his wand. “Lumos!”

Fortunately, a bright light immediately illuminated their surroundings. Unfortunately, he was suddenly made aware of two figures standing just a few feet from him. Two human figures.

'Muggles?' Likely. Neither had made a move to draw a wand. In fact, they seemed to be wobbling where they stood. Not the optimal condition for survival.

“Shit!” He ran towards them, but was forced to suddenly leap out of the way as the Dementor passed right by him, way too close for comfort, and headed straight for the newcomers. “Shit, shit, shit!”

He had managed to get closer now and saw the Dementor floating closer to the two - identical twins? - and saw that they were both injured. Only one had eyes open – a startling, brilliant crimson red – and they were narrowed in anger. The - boy? man? - aligned himself to be the one closer to the Dementor and snarled something at it, in a foreign-sounding language.

“Fuck! Expecto Patronum!” He tried desperately, but was barely able to produce a wisp of smoke. His movements grew increasingly agitated and he was getting overwhelmed by flashes of the graveyard. 

Cedric's dead body, Voldemort rising, Cedric's father sobbing over his son's corpse...

'No!' He struggled against the urge to pass out, grasping for any happy memories, but came up short as the flood of memories threatened to overtake him.

He forced his eyes to stay open and struggled to at least get in-between the newcomers and the Dementor.

He was suddenly launched off his feet and backward, his head hitting the ground, as a wave of what he guessed was accidental magic, burst from the foreigner.

He watched with half-lidded eyes as the man laughed, his eyes seemingly wild around the edges, before falling on his knees. He seemed surprised at the fact, but retained a tight hold on the other boy, who Harry guessed was his brother, and gently lowered him on the ground.

The man's eyes then rolled back at his skull and he collapsed next to the other figure.

Everything was silent.

It was only then that Harry realized, the Dementor was nowhere to be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm done with finals. The first day I was free I slept for 17 hours. The next day I slept for another 15. Had to catch up after those many, many all-nighters..


	6. The Aftermath

*-*-*

Blinking dazedly at the sky, from where he was laying on the ground, Harry took in the now cleared skies and the street lights at the corner of his eyes flickering back to life. He slid his hand across the ground, until he felt the frame of his glasses, grateful that they hadn't been knocked far away. Harry let out a relieved sigh as he put them on the bridge of his nose and asserted that, apart from being a bit dirty, they weren't damaged.

He was also aware of his cousin, whimpering somewhere to the right, just out of his line of sight. That was a good sign, he supposed. Could one even make those sounds without a soul? He assumed not. Without a soul, the body was just an empty husk, so what use it would have to whimper in fright?

He tried to lift his head and tried to see where the two strangers were and could just make out their slumped forms a couple of metres in front of him. 

Both were out cold.

Thanks to the lights he was able to make out more details than before. He rolled on his side, wincing and already resigning himself to the bruises he could feel forming on his arms and legs from the fall.

He peered back at them and took his time to studying them, after a careful glance around told him that there was no immediate danger to be found, and that his cousin was blinking owlishly up to him while making no attempt to get up.

Waving at him, he made sure he had his cousin's attention. “You'll live. Remind me to make you eat some chocolate afterwards.” He told Dudley. “I will make sure there's no danger around and then we can try to move. I'll need help with those two.” He gestured towards the newcomers.

Dudley made for what might have been a weak nod, before stopping. He seemed to be fighting a wave of nausea and as such was not in the mood to argue. 

Harry sent a small 'thank you' for that, to whoever might be listening, because it meant he wouldn't have to answer any awkward questions as of yet. Like: What were those things? Why aren't we getting out of here right now?Are you really expecting it to be a good idea to take these maybe-wizards to our house? Harry stopped there. No need to go through all the worst-case scenarios yet, when he would get to live through them anyway.

He took a deep breath. It felt like someone had hit him really hard on the head, but inside the head, making it seem like the space around him was spinning. 'I wonder if this is what it feels like to be drunk...' 

It definitely wasn't helping his muddled thoughts that were still reeling from the near-death experience they had all went through.

Now, speaking of the two foreigners... He focused his attention back towards them.

He had correctly assumed that the two were almost completely identical, at least as far as the appearances went. The light let him pick out little details, like the absolutely ridiculous hairstyle they both had; all spiked up and sporting red, black and blonde colours. 

That was something that would have made his aunt press her lips in a thin line and look down on them. His uncle would probably try to get away from them as soon as possible. Any kind of 'freakishness', even a muggle one, was something they had no desire to interact with.

But then again, he wasn't sure they were muggles, what with that blast of magic from earlier...

Their clothes also looked very similar, from what he could make out. Both seemed to have a preference for leather – in this weather? Were they mad? - and both had an abundance of accessories. Chokers, wristbands, necklaces, earrings, buckles – you name it – and all seemed to be made from some gold-plated metal.

'Punks?' Harry thought, bemusedly. 'That's not something you see everyday. Especially around here.'

He also decided that his earlier assumptions were correct; both of the newcomers looked way too identical, even aside from their rather questionable attire, to be anything but related. 

Harry would have even suspected the Polyjuice potion, had there not been the subtlest of differences between them. Like how the one that had done something with magic; there were the tiniest of dissimilarities in their facial structure, like the slightly sharper cheekbones. 

He doubted he would have even noticed though, had he not been blatantly staring.

He was jerked out of his observation by rapidly approaching footsteps, and realized how this probably looked: him sitting in the middle of the street, looking dazed, his cousin throwing up behind him, and two figures passed out in front. 

Harry strained his neck and squinted his eyes to see who was the one approaching, as he clumsily tried to hide his wand, before it was too late. 

“Now what do you think you're doing, putting your wand away?” She flippantly barked. “We don't know if we're out of danger yet!”

“Mrs. Figg?” He asked incredulously, shifting uneasily as he saw her eyes dart between them all. 

She didn't appear to have heard him, instead fuming to herself. “I will kill that idiot!”

Harry leaned forward and pushed himself up to get closer to her eye level. 

“Mrs. Figg... What... What's going on?” 'And who are you speaking of?' He mentally added. His mind was swirling with confusion. 

The old lady turned towards him and Harry was taken aback by the fury in her eyes, but it didn't seem to be directed towards him.

“I will kill Mundungus Fletcher!” She hissed out. “He was supposed to protect you! And he's nowhere to be found! Ohh, I will make sure Dumbledore gives him a proper ass-kicking! You're lucky to be alive!” He shook her fist towards the sky, her shopping bag flopping awkwardly.

“Dementors! Here! And he's gone off to make another one of his shady cauldron deals! I told Albus that he was the absolute worst choice to put him as your protector!” She continued ranting. 

Harry just stood there with a bewildered expression, watching her. There was too much information for his frazzled mind to process. 

“Might as well put a bloody pixie in his place, for all the good he is! At least those are useful at causing distractions!” She took several gulps of air.

Suddenly she focused back at him. “Well, come on then! No time to be standing around! We need to get out of here.”

“Ah...er.” 'Good job, Harry. You're doing a great impression of a fish right now.' The rational side of his mind told him sarcastically. He blinked rapidly. “Wait, you... you're a witch?”

She looked at him with an impatient expression that softened due to whatever she saw on his face. “A Squib actually, dear.” 

“And.. Dumbledore? You mentioned him? How do you know him? What is going on?” He meant to continue, but stopped as she waved her hands frantically in front of his face.

“I know you're confused, but the explanations will have to come later. And preferably by someone else. This in a much bigger mess than you think.” She wandered over to his cousin, giving a glance to the other two, still unconscious, figures. “And we have muggles involved... Dear Merlin. I hope Mundungus gets skewered.”

“Ah, yeah.” Harry started. He went over to Dudley to help him get up. Thankfully, his cousin was pretty responsive and he was able to help him up without too much fuss. “I don't think they're muggles.”

Mrs, Figg threw him a sharp glance. “Why do you say that?”

“I was having trouble summoning my Patronus,” 'Don't think about it. You're fine right now. You're alive.' “and one of them released a wave of magic; I don't know which one, the other was out; and sent me flying. The Dementor was gone too. Dunno if he sent it away or destroyed it – can you even destroy a Dementor? - after which he also passed out. Either way, it wasn't anything I did.” Harry was aware he was rambling, but Mrs. Figg was listening intently.

“Okay.” She held up her hand. “That makes things about one percent easier, which is not saying much, but at least we won't need to Obliviate them in that case.”

She gave him and his cousin an appraising glance.

“Harry, take one; you,” She pointed at Dudley, “take the other. I'm not strong enough to carry anyone, but we must move now.”

They did as they were told, not having much of a choice. It was really lucky that no one had come wandering this way, with all the ruckus that was caused. 

Harry ended up half-carrying, half-dragging along the one that that had blood dripping down his forehead. Despite the blood looking like it had only recently clotted, the cut itself looked old. 'Must be more of that accidental magic.' he mused.

He tried to see over his charge's ridiculous hairdo, where his cousin was walking in front of him. Dudley seemed to barely notice the additional weight, having heaved the boy over his shoulder and now following Mrs. Figg.

Just as Harry was opening his mouth, she started talking. “We'll go to my place first. Normally, I would just send you to your relatives' house,” She had an interesting look on her face, and Harry had to smother a giggle. It seemed she thought of his relatives about as highly as he did. “but in this case we have.. additional passengers. You can leave them at my place, and go home, while I Floo the Order.” 

Dudley looked distinctively relieved at this. For once, Harry couldn't blame him. This was his first serious brush with the Wizarding world, under the worst possible circumstances. Adding in all the weird phrases thrown around and how Harry and Mrs. Figg seemed to be in-the-know while also being freaked-out... 

Going back to his home would be a welcome dose of 'normal'. 

They reached the entrance of her house, and Harry was ready to cry in relief. He was exhausted, dirty, shaking, barely standing up straight and his head still hadn't gone back to the not-drunk vision.

Mrs. Figg quickly ushered them in and directed them to the living room's couch. Harry gratefully sat down his charge and straightened up, only to almost fall down when Dudley let down his, but wobbled and almost feel over, if he hadn't grabbed on Harry's arm at the last second.

“Good, good.” She looked them over. “Now shoo. Get to your house and wait for further instructions.” She directed to Harry. “I have no doubt someone will be in touch soon.”

“But-” Harry started.

“Not now.” She looked at him impatiently. “Merlin's balls, you have no idea what impact this is going to have, do you? Later. Now go. You will know soon. Probably sooner than expected. And keep your wand out until you get to the house.”

Harry swallowed any further protests as she prodded him in the ribs and reluctantly went to the door his cousin following him unsteadily. He threw one last glance over his shoulder, where the foreigners rested on the couch. They seemed to be leaning into each other and their faces were calm.

He gave a mental shrug. Harry was happy they were okay, but as curious as he was, he doubted he would see them again. 

With a resigned sigh, he went to face the music.

*-*-*

When Remus Lupin stepped through the door of Grimmauld Place, he hadn't expected the usual quiet tranquillity to be completely replaced by loud screeching and people running around the place like something was set on fire. 

Hovering uncertainly near the door, he made a decision and went to the kitchen area, where the centre of activity seemed to be.

He saw some of the Weasley kids and Hermione standing on the nearby stairs, furiously whispering to each other. They didn't appear to notice him in the overall chaos. 

Either Fred or George could be heard somewhere higher up, shouting at the portrait that had no doubt woken up thanks to the noise. 

He barely avoided colliding with another member, Doge maybe, and finally stepped into the room to take in the scene.

“-U WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR HIM! THANK MERLIN HE'S OKAY, OR I WOULD HAVE PERSONALLY SKINNED YOU ALIVE!” Was the unmistakable, shrill voice of Molly. It was directed towards Mundungus Fletcher, who was inching closer to the corner with every word she yelled, and was nursing a painful-looking bruise on his chin. 

Judging by the way Sirius was staring him down menacingly and cracking his knuckles, he had been the one to deliver the blow. 

“I was following...a good...deal...” Fletcher's voice was growing softer with each word he spoke, obviously realizing that he was only helping to dig his grave deeper. 

“A DEAL? A DEAL?” Somehow Molly's voice had gotten even more high-pitched. “HARRY COULD HAVE DIED BECAUSE OF YOUR INCOMETENCE! BE GRATEFUL THAT THE CRUCIATUS CURSE IS ILLEGAL, OR YOU WOULD HAVE JUST EXPERIENCED IT!” With that she stormed out, leaving a stunned crowd in her wake. They could just hear her ushering her kids to their rooms. 

Remus blinked, before sliding up to where Sirius was standing, as the conversations slowly resumed around them. 

“What's going on?”

Sirius gave a start, quickly turning around, but he gave a strained smile when he saw it was him. 

“Moony. Good to see you.” He nodded. “Little Whinging got attacked by Dementors. Mundy here,” he nodded at the cowering wizard who was doing his best to appear as unnoticeable as possible, but failing, “was on the watch for Harry, but decided to skip out, because of some illegal cauldron deals or some shit like that. A Dementor appeared while he was gone, attacked Harry, his cousin and two other kids.” 

Remus stared with wide eyes. 

“Thankfully, they're all alive though.” He hurriedly added. “That's why he's here with only a bruise.”

“I see.” Remus managed to get out with a discreet cough. “Wait, you mentioned two others?”

“Ah, yeah. Mrs. Figg, or something, talked to Harry and then briefed Dumbledore. He's off now to deal with the Ministry fallout, by the way, and it's not looking pretty. Anyway, he managed to tell us enough that, as far as I understand, the kids are wizards, but we don't know for sure 'cause they still haven't woken up.” 

Remus gave an encouraging nod. Sirius took a deep breath and went on a bit calmer.

“Yeah, and we can't bring them here, because of the Fidelius charm - they would need to be told the secret - and we can't just drop them off in a hospital; they could be valuable witnesses.” He then gestured to the other side of the table where Arthur Weasley was sitting down and quietly discussing something with three other wizards.

“Arthur and Molly offered their house for them to recover. We will leave the two there with a guard, so they can be brought in as soon as they wake up. Hopefully, they won't be out long, but Poppy will check them over and we will know more then.” he finished.

“Thank you, Sirius,” came the amused and weary voice of Albus Dumbledore. Both men turned, having not noticed the old wizard approaching.

“Albus!” Sirius exclaimed. “Any news? What's the Ministry up to now?”

Dumbledore chuckled and smiled at them tiredly. “It's going to be fine. Harry has a hearing coming up, but I managed to delay it. Unfortunately for Minister Fudge, I still hold considerable political power.” He said with a chuckle. “We will be getting Harry later this evening.”

“Thank Merlin!” Sirius said, with noticeable air of relief around him. 

“Yes indeed. Although, I don't imagine he will be too excited to talk to any of us.” Albus turned his head to look at Remus. “The reason I asked you here, aside from briefing everyone of the situation, was because I would like to ask you for a favour.”

Remus nodded, having a feeling that he knew what would be asked.

“Sirius already told you that Molly and Arthur has given us their home, to house the two others that were affected by the Dementor attack. I would like to have you as one of the people to look after them until they awaken.”

“I don't mind.” He said, looking at Sirius, who had gone back to trying to burn a hole in Fletcher's skull, purely by staring. He didn't have many plans as of yet, still job hunting, which was becoming more and more difficult after he had been exposed as a werewolf.

“Do we know when they are expected to wake up?” He directed towards the Headmaster.

“I had Poppy take a look at them. She said that they were fine physically, which was strange because both had signs of recent injuries, including broken bones.” He paused thoughtfully and unwrapped a lemon-sherbet he had taken out of his pocket, before popping it in his mouth. 

“She also was able to tentatively confirm signs of magic residue on them, so we will assume they are wizards. Possibly ones from a different country, as they have quite distinctive looks. I assume I would recall them otherwise.” 

Remus nodded at that.

“They might be suffering a magical exhaustion, and there is nothing we can do about that, unfortunately. It will come back by itself, gradually. As of now, she said they would wake up in about a week or two.”

Even Sirius seemed startled by that. It took a considerable effort to exhaust one's magic so much, they needed weeks to recover. Something bad must have gone down first to put the two in that state.

“Yes, okay.” Remus finally said. “I will gather some things quickly and then go right over. I assume I can Floo there directly?”

“Yes.” Albus confirmed. “Take your time. I have Diggle looking after them now. He was free for the evening, so you have a couple of hours until you need to switch out.”

“Right. I'll be off then.” He looked over at Sirius and gave him a small nod. “I will see you later. Remember to be careful.”

The two wizards nodded to him in return. He turned around and went off to the exit. 

'Well. This just became even more interesting.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's 28 degrees Celsius outside. Send help


	7. The Intrigue

*-*-*

It was the second time, in a much-too-short amount of days, when Yami woke up - once again having no idea as to where he was.

Instead of immediately leaping to his feet, he took it slow, not giving any outward sign of his new-found state of consciousness, both to properly assess the situation and to enjoy the comforting warmth he was enveloped in. 

He did take note of the strange stiffness in his limbs though, as well as the fact that his brain felt like it was wrapped in cotton and remained unwilling to function properly. 

As an unfortunate added side effect, he also noticed a persistently annoying, dull throbbing that had made itself at home right near his temples.

An appraising mental scan of the space around told him that there was no one else in the room, nor was there any surveillance set up - or at least not any that he could detect. 

It was only then that he hummed a silent greeting to the Shadows and pulled them closer. They eagerly rushed at him, but hovered nearby as to not overwhelm him, recognizing that he was not yet fully aware.

Shifting his weight just enough to free one of his hands, while being mindful of Yugi who was asleep in his arms – a fact that calmed him immensely – he carefully brought it up and close to his face. 

He opened his palm as a silent invitation and coerced one of the many Shadow fledglings to come forward, before silently directing it to slash across his finger to create a tiny cut. 

Through it, he let the tendril slip into his bloodstream and travel down the entire nervous system; a sensation that couldn't be deemed exactly... comfortable.. under any circumstances; but which was damn useful for assessing whether or not he had been drugged.

Thankfully, the Shadows actually liked him a lot, so they tried to be as gentle as possible and he wasn't facing any serious discomfort. 

The entire 'scan' took less than a minute and by the end of it he was able to confirm that he was in the clear. 

He let the Shadow slip out the way it came, and let it off after allowing it to weave itself around his finger affectionately. 

His headache, on the other hand, still had it's figurative fingers wrapped around his head, in a vice-like grip. 

Opting to ignore that for as long as possible, he instead pressed himself closer to the warm body next to his. 

He placated the Shadows' concerns for now, as he didn't want to subject Yugi to the same invasive procedure, no matter how painless it might be. 

Plus, he didn't think that whoever had placed them here would have drugged one and not the other; not if they had common sense. 

But they would make absolutely sure of it later. 

Right now though, Yami dearly wished to go back to sleep, but resisted the urge, all too aware of the unusual circumstances they were in.

Sure, waking up in a bed was a nice change from the usual drag that most kidnappings were; as most of their various adversaries tended to go with the usual 'throw them in a dungeon' way. 

Still, the fact that he hadn't been separated from his other half was something he greatly appreciated, as it meant that whoever had done this would live to see another day. 

He might have buried most of his homicidal-tendencies, but it didn't mean the Shadows had. 

Often-times, they were the ones to deal out punishments, a fact Yami didn't exactly discourage, but he didn't enforce it either, knowing that it tended to made Yugi upset, even if he couldn't fault their reasoning.

Yami frowned and shifted his head. This still didn't change the fact that he didn't recognize where they were at. 

The place didn't feel familiar. And he didn't mean it just in the way that he hadn't been here before. 

No. The whole area around them, seemingly stretching out for miles in all directions, was blanketed down by layers upon layers of both old and new magic residue - one that felt entirely foreign to him. 

The reason he hadn't lashed out yet was because it didn't feel hostile, just slightly curious. Yami could also feel the Shadows responding to the other presence, hesitantly trying to reach back, but unwilling to do so without either of their rulers' permissions. 

Yugi's steady heartbeat helped to keep him grounded; the slow beats were matching his own perfectly, one by one; and were easily heard from where he had pressed his ear to his partner's chest. As an extra measure of precaution, he also entangled their legs and closed his eyes.

'Look after him while I gather information.' Yami gave the order and felt the Shadows happily complying, content to shift closer and keep a watch.

However, he wasn't overly worried. The Shadows would never willingly let something happen to either of them. The fact that they were in a relatively nice room and there were no bodies strewn around was enough to show that the people that had placed them here didn't have malicious intentions. The Shadows would have been able to tell.

He got comfortable, and it was only then that he let his being fuse closer to the Shadows around him and willingly dove into the abyss they had created.

*-*-*

The screeching of the kettle alerted Remus that he had somehow managed to doze off while reading the newspaper. 

He opened his eyes and let out a yawn, grimacing as his neck gave a loud crack as he sat up. He wasn't as young as he once was and sleeping in a chair really should be avoided, he noted with frown.

It had been a week and two days since he had moved into the Weasley's home and so far there had been no changes with their guests.

He had developed a routine, where he would check on the guest room every morning, then afternoon, and then evening, after which he retired to his own room. During nights however, he would place a subtle charm that would trigger if it picked up on any activity. It was a little draining to maintain, so he didn't bother to leave it on during the day.

Remus picked himself up and went to take the kettle off fire and make himself a nice cup of tea. Once in the kitchen, he selected a simple mug and spent a moment trying to decide between 'black' and 'mint green'. 

So far, the day had started out the same as all others, ever since he had temporarily moved in. He would spend his time reading various books he had brought along, checking on the two kids and using the Floo system every evening to inform the Order that so far there had been no changes.

It had been decided that once they woke up, he would send a Patronus immediately, instead of using it for no-change updates. That could prove to be risky, since he didn't know where Dumbledore would be when he was sending the message. 

He stirred in two spoonfuls of sugar and took the cup back to the armchair he was sitting in earlier, intent on finishing the article he had been reading before he fell asleep. It had been an interesting piece about potions' development that was co-written between Potions Masters Swoopstikes and Severus Snape.

He moved to place the mug on the little table right beside the chair, but blinked in surprise as he saw the newspaper resting on it. 

'I thought I placed it on the armrest..' He furrowed his brow, but dismissed the thought. 'Must be feeling more tired than I thought.'

Making a decision, Remus went over to the fireplace and scooped up some of the powder. It was getting late anyway, so he would call in and report that nothing had changed so far.

He fished out a small piece of paper from his pocket and gave it a thoughtful look.

“Right..” 

He kneeled down and threw the Floo powder in, at the same time firmly and clearly speaking out. “Dumbledore's office, Hogwarts!” As the green flames erupted, he stuck his head into them.

He never noticed a pair of eyes staring at him from the Shadows.

*-*-*

Yami was fascinated. 

After his consciousness had merged with the Shadows, he had set to explore the place he was in. He had determined that they were occupying one of the many small bedrooms upstairs, most of which didn't seem to have been used recently, except for one other. 

At first he had thought that maybe the place was a small hotel or something similar, but soon realized that it was more likely a house for a large family, given the wide assortment of things still filling individual rooms.

Everything here had that same layer of magic over it. It had settled down, covering everything like a huge, invisible blanket.

It was pretty old too, but nowhere near as to where he was. Maybe a couple of generations? 

After some pondering he had made a decision and reached out to where Mahado's consciousness resided, which wasn't hard, as it seemed his old friend had been keeping a keen eye on him, and was overjoyed that he had woken up. 

With Mahado's attention successfully directed towards him, his apprentice Mana wasn't far behind. She had given him the equivalent of a mental glomp, before cheerfully weaving away to keep an eye on Yugi. Her hyperactive personality had left him feeling a bit dazed.

He had to focus.

*-*-*

Yami turned his attention back to his friend.

'Mahado,' he intoned. 'What are your thoughts of the magic I feel in this place? I don't find it familiar, but then again I never studied it as extensively as you did.'

'Forgive me, my Lord.' Mahado said with a wave of apology. 'Unfortunately, I can't say I have ever encountered a branch like this. I would have to say it doesn't feel even remotely familiar. From what I've felt so far, I can only assert that this might be the reason for your continuous discomfort.'

Yami gave a mental frown of confusion at that, and shifted the shadowy form his mind had taken down the stairs, gliding along the edge of the ceiling. He had felt a presence of a human here.

'What do you mean?'

'The headache.' Mahado's soft voice elaborated. 'It's the new magic reaching out to the Shadows. Having never encountered something similar before, they are feeling uncertain and having trouble acclimatizing. At this rate, it might take a while until you can properly interact with it.' He finished a touch mournfully.

'I see.' Yami mused. That would definitely prove annoying, but he would deal. He was too intrigued to not learn more now. His only concern was if Yugi would take it better or worse. No matter. He could always take on the pain, if it was causing his Light problems.

'Hum.' He started, while moving through what appeared to be the living room and stopped by an armchair, to peer down at a newspaper. The pictures were moving. How bizarre. 

He let his shadow 'hands' pick it up and flipped through it curiously, all the while keeping an eye for the kitchen, where the person he had sensed earlier was.

In fact... He sent out a little tendril to brush against the figure and was surprised by the results. The man felt decidedly Dark.

How very interesting.

'Mahado.' He let the newspaper fall down on the nearby table. 

'My Lord?' 

'Go and see if you can contact Kaiba or any of my friends. I'm starting to think that it's the foreign magic that has been hindering our communications. If you can get out of the field, you might be able to find out more.'

'Yes, my Lord.'

'Thank you. Report back to me tomorrow evening. I have a feeling we still have some things to sort out.' Yami turned his unnerving stare towards the oblivious man who was making his way back from the kitchen, a mug in his hand. 

He heard Mahado's silent agreement and felt him bow, right before his presence vanished.

*-*-*

Yami shifted himself closer to the dark corners of the room, for further observation.

The man was rather unassuming, and had stress lines etched in his forehead. His clothing seemed rather ratty, but was clean and looked comfortable.

Yami cursed silently at himself as he noticed the man's apparent confusion at the misplaced newspaper and berated himself for the silly mistake. 

He was lucky that the guy shrugged it off.

Nothing happened for a minute and Yami was considering just moving back upstairs back to Yugi, before the man stood up again, muttering unintelligibly.

He frowned in confusion as the man made it towards the fireplace and grabbed something that looked like sand before tossing it in. His eyes widened when the man called out a place – and thank Ra for all those tournaments Kaiba had organized in America for helping him pick up English – and suddenly stuck his head into the green flames that had erupted in it's wake.

He had half considered moving closer and pulling the guy out, but somehow he doubted that the guy would just suddenly commit suicide.

So he waited.

“Albus?” The man called out, sounding slightly muffled, but still understandable.

'A communication device?' Yami wondered. Just when he thought he had seen it all.

He also turned out to be correct. However, much to his displeasure, he realized that he was only able to hear the half of the conversation that occurred from here. 

He half-considered tapping in with the Shadows to try and eavesdrop, but retained. He had no idea how they would react to the green fire phone-system, and wasn't willing to test it out. Not without further, extensive study anyway.

Instead he tried to piece together what he could from the snippets.

“No, there's no change as of yet.”

No change? Was that about them?

“I know, Albus, but it has been almost a week and a half. I know Poppy said it could take up to two weeks, but maybe we should bring her in again?”

It was definitely about him and his partner. He could also buy the fact that they had been out for the better part of two weeks. It certainly explained why his actual body felt so stiff.

The 'call' seemed to be coming to an end. It sounded practised, so Yami assumed that the man had been making similar status-updates every day, or every other day.

Question was: why were they so important? 

“Yes, okay. As always, I will send a Patronus immediately if something changes. Later.”

Yami decided it was time to get some answers. He gently prodded at Mana and let her know that he would be getting more information. He felt her agreement and chirped reply that she would continue to stay guard. 

Yami sent a wave of approval.

Then he focused, and let the Shadows pull at his physical body, reforming it back around him, without him having to venture back upstairs.

The last tendrils just had had a chance to settle, before the man was finished and pulled his head back from the fire.

Yami stood silently, having moved closer to the entrance, so his sudden appearance made some sense, rather than appearing at the other end of the room.

“Well hello,” He drawled, resisting the urge to smirk, as the man immediately jumped in the air and whipped around to face him, pointing a stick at his face. A way to channel the power, maybe? “this is definitely something you don't see every day.” 

The man blinked at him owlishly, and he seemed to try to say something, but it came out in a stutter.

Yami almost felt bad for messing with him.

Almost.

“So.” He leaned against the nearby wall and let his arms dangle down his sides in a deliberately non-threatening way. He aimed an innocent smile at the man. “You got any coffee?”

Messing with people was fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's like so hot here, we're all dying and falling asleep and i went swimming with my clothes on because whatever


	8. The Beginning

 

Remus was staring at the youth who was now carelessly lounging on the sofa in front of him, happily drinking the coffee he had made him, after he had gotten over his initial almost heart-attack.

He supposed that he had really overreacted during his sudden appearance, but he had not honestly expected either of the boys to actually wake up today.

Plus, the youth's unusual get-up was really eye-catching.

He caught a smirk the teen aimed his way and rapidly blinked, flushing slightly in embarrassment, before looking to side. He knew how uncomfortable it was to have someone stare at you. Where were his manners?

"I'm sorry," he awkwardly started, clearing his throat. "I wasn't expecting you to awaken today. I imagine you must be quite confused. And pardon my manners, I'm Remus Lupin."

The youth nodded easily. "I suppose 'pleasure to meet you' is a bit out of place in this situation." He stated wryly. "But thank you, nevertheless. My name is Yami." He didn't offer his last name, which didn't escape his notice. Remus however detected a slight accent.

Yami put down the cup, side-eyeing the still half-filled coffee pot. Remus pushed it towards the youth who took it with a graceful nod.

"I.. ah.. are you a foreigner, Mister Yami, if you don't mind me asking?" He fumbled, having a hard time putting his thoughts into words.

"Hm, yes, you could say that." Yami didn't seem to be paying much attention towards him, now that he had the pot in his reach. Remus wondered about that. "And just call me Yami, please."

Half a minute of silence ensued as Yami carefully measured out three exact spoonfuls of sugar that he dropped in the cup.

"Mister Lupin," Yami spoke again, now that the drink had earned his approval. "Aren't you going to contact your..ah..associate?"

Remus raised his brow before his eyes widened in realisation.

He really wasn't a soldier. Alastor would have berated him to hell and back for this. But then, he understood perfectly well why Albus hadn't put _him_ in this position. They wanted their guests co-operative, not immediately suspicious and suspected as criminals, which Moody would almost certainly take them as.

"Just Remus, please. And dear me.. yes, I shall indeed. He will also be able to explain everything in more detail." He finished a touch apologetically.

Yami waved him off. "It's alright. I want Yugi awake for that anyway. Which he will be soon, I expect."

Remus mentally noted down the other's name.

He pulled out his wand and saw Yami's eyes follow the movement carefully, suddenly narrowed and focused. This was also the first time he noted that Yami's eyes were a chilling, blood-red colour. He suppressed an involuntarily shudder.

Calling his wolf Patronus, he gave it a simple message. "Albus, one of our guests has awoken."

He never noticed Yami eyeing the wolf with keen eyes.

"I expect the other one will wake shortly." He glanced at Yami questioningly and saw him nod.

He didn't say anything more, unwilling to reveal any details to anyone else who might be listening when the message was delivered.

So with that, he sent the wolf off.

"Remus, I would like to know why we are so important to you." Yami spoke as soon as the silvery mist left behind by his Patronus had faded.

"Yes, I believe I can shed some light on that." He nodded. "If you remember you helped one of my former students, Harry, when the Dementor attacked."

"De-mentur?" Yami said slowly. "Is that what it was?"

Remus looked at him then, his lips parted in surprise. "Dementor, you mean? Harry said you banished the creature, before passing out. They also guard the Azkaban prison?"

"I have not heard of them or that place."

Remus was uncertain how to continue. He had pegged Yami as a wizard because of his rather unflinching acceptance and general lack of surprise displayed when facing magic, but now he wondered if he had been mistaken.

He went on hesitantly. "Well, I assumed that you're wizard. Surely you would have heard of them?" Unless... "Oh! You're a foreigner! It's possible your home country would be less familiar with them."

Yami tilted his head. "Yes, I am not what you'd call a.. traditional wizard. I come from Japan and our communities are relatively small and tight-knit. So I am rather unfamiliar with the way things are here."

Ah. That made sense. Japan was infamous for having a relatively little involvement in the world's affairs, preferring to keep to themselves. As such, not much was known about them. He was pretty sure that they had a government, and their own wizarding school, but were really only focused on their country.

Remus didn't exactly blame them for that. No one wanted to be involved with Voldemort. Or, since no-one apart from Harry and the Order believed that he was back, just the general political situation with England. Their Minister wasn't exactly well-liked, likely becaue of his less-than-impressive political prowess.

"That explains things." He finally said.

* * *

Yami had to fight hard to keep a straight face through the conversation. He was, after all, pretty much pulling all this from his ass.

It was good to know his bullshitting skills hadn't gotten rusty, and of course, his poker face was impeccable thanks to his and Yugi's Duel Monsters careers. It was basically an unwritten rule that one was required to keep stone-faced when facing an opponent, in order to not give away the strategy.

He had never even heard of these 'Dementors' nor of an actual wizarding community existing. And thank Ra, but Remus was considerably easier to read than most people he knew.

Then again, after spending years around Kaiba and figuring out his expressions, there weren't many that posed a challenge in that area. The CEO had always been the hardest person to read.

He had also noticed a Shadow monster lurking close to his consciousness, curiously watching Remus. It seemed that Silver Fang felt a strange sort-of kinship to the man.

' _Peculiar_.' Yami grinned to himself. He had his own suspicions about the man, but he wasn't going to question him. He could send Fang to follow the man later, if he wanted to learn more.

Just then, there was a knock on the door and Remus got cut off before he could even think of anything more to say.

"Please give me a minute, I think our escort is here." He directed a tired smile to Yami.

"Alright." Yami frowned as he watched Remus go.

Despite having just met the man, he couldn't help but like him a little. Maybe not _trust_ him yet, but as someone with a Dark affinity, Remus automatically fell under his protection, whether he knew it or not. He didn't like to see any of his _charges_ look so exhausted, especially since he couldn't discern _why_ he was such.

He resolved to investigate soon. And as he had a sinking feeling in his gut that they wouldn't be departing from the wizarding world as soon as he would like to, so he would have the time.

"-ouldn't have knocked, Arthur. It is your home after all." He heard Remus and another man talking as they got closer.

"Sorry about that but Albus contacted me rather suddenly, just as I was just preparing to retire for the night. I've had to pull quite the few all-nighters in Ministry lately, you wouldn't believe the reports that we've had lately, so that's probably just my brain saying I need to catch up on sleep." The other voice said with a laugh.

As they appeared in Yami's line of sight, he appraised him. Middle-aged, average height, red-headed man with a kind face turned to look at him curiously.

"Hello, I am Arthur Weasley." He introduced himself with a smile, offering Yami a hand. "And this is my home."

"Yami." He said curtly, giving the hand a glance, but didn't offer his own, instead giving a short nod.

The Shadows had already flickered around the man, deciding that he felt Light. As such, Yami had trouble reading him properly. Light was Yugi's area of expertise. If he was awake, he would give Yami an insight, but alas..

"Pleasure." The man said lightly, seemingly undeterred by Yami's unfriendliness. "Did Remus explain yet why I am here to escort you elsewhere?"

"No, he didn't."

"Okay. Well, he mentioned to me that you're from Japan, so feel free to ask about anything you might not understand or simply don't know about."

Yami nodded to show he was listening. Remus meanwhile went off to the kitchen to boil some more water for them.

"Right, so.. uhm." Arthur scratched his head. "Basically, the short version is that we brought you in after you helped Harry defeat the Dementor you encountered in Little Whinging. You remember Harry? He's the black haired boy. He and his cousin were both there during the attack."

"Vaguely." No, he didn't. Well, he _did_ remember seeing two human-shaped figures, but not anything else.

"That's not surprising. You were suffering from magical exhaustion so it's possible you would have trouble recalling details."

Yami hummed. Magical exhaustion? He wondered how they determined that.

"Well, after we brought you in, Harry received a letter from the Ministry of Magic about illegal use of magic outside of school, which is absolutely ridiculous, because it is allowed in life-threatening situations. However, no one at Ministry actually believes there was a Dementor involved. As such, we wanted to make sure you and your..friend were both alright, and ask if you'd be willing to testify as witnesses in the court Harry will be facing."

"I would like to discuss this with Yugi first." Yami said slowly, his mind quickly processing the information. So this Ministry didn't like Harry. And they were calling a court hearing for the apparent minor. Someone pretty high-up in the food chain had a grudge against the kid. Interesting.

"Also, where do you plan on taking us and why haven't you done it already?" He asked. It puzzled him. Why bother bringing them to this location, if they wanted to take them elsewhere anyway?

"It's because we want to bring you to a secure location. But the place is under the Fidelius charm. Are you familiar with it?"

Yami shook his head.

"It's a bit of an obscure magic, so that's to be expected." Arthur smiled. "Basically, the place is unplottable and unreachable to anyone, unless they learn the Secret of the location. Only the Secret Keeper can give away the location. And since you have to be awake to learn the Secret, we couldn't bring you there to begin with."

"I see." Yami muttered, with carefully hidden interest. Something like that may prove to be useful, if he could learn the specifics behind this.. _spell_. He did wonder if the magic would hold up against the Shadows. It was entirely possible that it wouldn't, because there technically didn't exist a way to escape them all. Shadows were _everywhere,_ and if they wished so, they should be entirely capable to bypass the magic that kept the place hidden and show it to him. He would have to wait and see.

"I am curious however," he started, attracting the attention of both Arthur and Remus, who had finally returned with more refreshments. "Why all this secrecy? Seems a bit much, that's all."

Both men shared a look, but Remus was the one to speak. "That would be because of Voldemort." He stated, as if expecting the name to have some sort-of impact on Yami.

Unfortunately for them, Yami had never heard such a name before. "...is that supposed to mean something to me?"

Both visibly sagged at that, their shoulders drooping a bit, before Arthur straightened again with a little sigh. Yami watched with a carefully hiding how perplexed he felt.

"I suppose it was a long shot anyway," He gave Remus a little nudge. "I didn't expect that Japan would have a reason to mention him anyway, especially since most people believe that the bastard is dead."

"Arthur," Remus admonished him. "But yes, I suppose so."

He looked at the still very-much-confused Yami.

"Voldemort is a wizard, but don't call him by his name." Remus explained. "Most people get terribly frightened when they hear it, so we mostly use You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

He paused to take a sip of the tea he had made earlier.

"Most of the Order calls him by his name, however." He added thoughtfully.

"Okay.." Yami said slowly. "And he is..?"

"The resident Dark Lord. We're in a war with him right now, even though most people don't believe he's back. A lot of things happened - we're gonna catch you up with that a bit later – but basically he killed a lot of people in the past, seemingly died and got resurrected recently." Arthur had taken over, grimly reciting the story and gazing at the steam that was slowly raising from the mug he was holding. His eyes had a glazed look on then, and they were dark with old grief.

Lost in the thoughts as both men were; they didn't notice how Yami's eyes had narrowed and blazed at the mention of Voldemort being the 'Dark Lord'.

"I'll make myself some more tea, I think." Arthur finally said. "Would you like some more biscuits?"

"No, it's-" Yami suddenly paused, a thoughtful frown crossing his face, before his features brightened.

He leapt to his feet with surprising grace and gave a distracted nod towards both men. His eyes were glued to the stairway and he almost ran towards them.

"Yugi's awake." He said, before giving an apologetic wave with his hand and taking off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm dunno why i never uploaded this old chapter... 
> 
> Also if anyone likes the story, you're probably gonna be fine cuz I have not been able to stop thinking about it for the past however many months. I've just been slacking on writing it. But ya i have sooo many different ideas it's hard to decide what to do..


	9. The Reflection

Yami was racing up the stairs as fast as his more-or-less mortal form would allow him. He had to physically restrain himself from flickering next to Yugi's side, lest he give the two humans a sudden glimpse at his abilities.

 

He skipped the last step, jumping up and skidded to the left, almost sliding past the door of their assigned bedroom, the lack of shoes making the floor more of a challenge than he would want to.

 

As he pushed through the door, he was treated to the sight of Mana chattering light nonsense to the bleary-eyed form of Yugi. He smiled in relief and quickly shut the door behind him, waving his hand to seal the entrance from prying eyes or ears.

 

“Yami.”

 

“Hey.” Yami walked to the bedside and sat down with a relieved exhale. His hand automatically found Yugi's hand and entwined their fingers, grinning happily as he gave him a light squeeze.

 

Yami nodded gratefully towards Mana, who had stepped back and was now looking at their surroundings with curious eyes. Catching his eyes, she gave him a concerned gaze and made a sign to let him know that she would check around some more, to which he gave a thumbs up. With a small, warm smile towards them, she melted back into the shadows to give them some privacy.

 

“How are you feeling?” He used his free hand to carefully lift Yugi's chin so he could check his eyes for possible after-effects of the concussion. He didn't really expect any, but he wouldn't take any chances.

 

Yugi gave a miserable groan. “Like I woke up in the morning after one of Otogi's parties.”

 

“So like your mouth had been stuffed with cotton and your head decided to ignore the centre of the gravity? Yeah, that's... a good way to put it.” Yami grinned sympathetically.

 

“No kidding.” Yugi carefully untangled their hands and pressed his palms to his face, scrubbing traces of sleep from his eyes. He then rolled his head back and winced as his neck gave a few cracks. “Are you alright?”

 

Yami sighed, but it was with fondness. Leave it to Yugi to be more worried about others' well-being before his own.

 

“Pretty similar to you I'd say. I have a headache the size of Kaiba's ego.” Yami chuckled as Yugi gave his arm a little swat.

 

“Oh my gods, Yami.” He rolled his eyes, but the corners of his lips twitched up anyway. He quickly grew serious however. “Where are we and what happened?”

 

Yami understood the urgency and sorted his thoughts in a way that would hopefully make sense.

 

“To be honest, I am a bit uncertain myself, partner.” He frowned. “I'll try to break it down as much as I can and then we'll figure out the details afterwards. However.. could I have one of the little ones check your blood quickly?”

 

“Oh. Okay. Probably would be good to get that out of the way.” Yugi scooted up the bed to lean against the wall more properly and held out his arm, palm facing towards his, without any hesitation.

 

Yami gently took his hand again and waved the same Fledging from before to slither over. This time, he let it pierce Yugi's skin, but in a smaller cut than what he had made from himself. He knew that Yugi could take the pain, much like he himself had long since become accustomed to it. But he didn't want to cause him more pain than he already had to endure.

 

Each time he looked at Yugi's hands he was greeted by the familiar feeling of guilt, even though he knew that Yugi would slap him around the head if he ever noticed. Yugi's hands, but especially his fingers, were still covered in many shiny scars from the time he had reassembled the puzzle in the burning warehouse. Yami knew for a fact that his partner had lost some of the feeling in the nerves due to the incident, because he had managed to overhear one the doctors treating him. His own guilt burned all the more brightly for it.

 

Yugi, meanwhile, was unaware of Yami's grim thoughts and grimaced at the feeling of a Fledging giving him the body scan. He gave a full-body shudder once the Shadowy presence got out. “Ugh, each time I think I know what is coming, I am once-again reminded that I will never get used to the experience. Thanks though.” He directed to both Yami and the Fledging, which had slithered close to the cut and was pulling it closed.

 

“You know,” Yugi said softly as he watched his skin being stitched right before his eyes, “I never knew they could do that.”

 

“Hmm.” Yami nodded. “I knew they could, but the Shadows rarely like anyone enough to bother doing it. They've done it a few times for you, however, you were usually unconscious when it happened. I must have forgotten to mention it.” He smiled at Yugi. “You are very special, my Light.”

 

Yugi ducked his head at the endearment to hide a tiny blush. Sometimes he still had trouble believing how much he meant to Yami. Yami, who had given up the afterlife, his dead loved ones, even locked away his true name and his chance to rest, just to stay with him.

 

How could he be so important to someone who had everything – people waiting for him, all the worlds' rarest treasures and the blessings of the Gods - when he was just himself? He had nothing to offer to the God-Pharaoh, yet... above everything and everyone... Yami had desired to stay with him. He never asked him for anything, except for his friendship. He knew when to give him space, when to offer encouragement or advice, and knew exactly how to distract him, when his thoughts inevitably turned to the tiny sliver of self-loathing he hadn't yet managed to will away. And Yugi felt so.. baffled at times, seeing how happy he made the Pharaoh, just by being by his side.

 

He was startled out of his thoughts when Yami squeezed his hand to get his attention. He hadn't even realized he was still holding onto him. Yugi shook his head, glad that the thoughts hadn't bled over the mind-link. With a headache like he had right now, he was surprised it hadn't happened. One day, when he could better put his feelings into words, he would tell Yami. Show him, as best as he could, just how much he appreciated him and how very grateful he was, that somehow, just by being himself, it was enough for this God.

 

For now though, he showed the thoughts in the far corner of his mind and focused on present.

 

Yugi cleared his throat. “So, fill me in?” He looked at Yami a bit sheepishly, knowing that he had zoned out.

 

Yami gave his hand another gentle squeeze, his crimson eyes soft as they looked upon Yugi.

 

“You probably don't remember, but after you passed out, we got attacked.”

 

“Attacked?” he felt momentarily startled, silently berating himself for leaving Yami to face danger alone. Sure he was fine but...

 

“We got attacked by a creature I have been told is called a Dement-ur, or something similar. I managed to destroy it with Shadow magic. I passed out afterwards.” Yami tightened his hold and Yugi rubbed his thumb over his fingers in soothing circles.

 

“Woke up here just about an hour ago. We're in a family house.” He briefly tilted his head, drawing Yugi's attention to the room they were in, for the first time. He absently noted the scruffy looking, but still spotless furniture of the room. If it weren't for a few personal belongings scattered here and there, he would have thought they were in a small hotel or something.

 

Yami spoke again, drawing his attention away from the details.

 

“I sent Mahado off to scout, since the phones still don't work, and to see if he could get in touch with anyone we know.”

 

Yugi frowned at that. “Well, that's still weird. If Seto hadn't designed those phones himself, an employee of his would be out of job faster than they could apologize.”

 

“Yeah. And... well,” Yami gave a slightly stiff chuckle. “It gets even more interesting.”

 

Yugi pursed his lips. Oh, he wasn't going to like this, was he?

 

“The people who have us here are _magic_. Different from ours, of course, because when are our lives ever simple. Mahado doesn't recognize the branch and neither do I.”

 

Ohh yes, he did not like this at all.

 

“Thankfully, they feel genuine and don't seem to want ill on us. What I gathered from talking to Remus – the man on the babysitting duty that is – is that I somehow managed to save a former student of theirs from the Dement-ur thing and now they want us to testify in the kid's hearing.” Yami paused to give him a chance to turn the new information over in his head.

 

“Oh-kay, I am following so far, but where did this ' _hearing_ ' thing come from? I am confused.” Yugi sighed.

 

“Well, firstly, the guy assumed that we're wizards. I definitely want to learn more about this weird culture, and it seemed better to make it look like we're a part of the community. Congrats Yugi. You are now dubbed a wizard.” Yami smirked at him and Yugi groaned again, letting his head thud against the wall behind him.

 

“I also told him that we're foreigners, so hopefully we can hammer in the fact that Japan is relatively sheltered and conservative, so we can keep them from prying about... our magic. We'll just say we were home-schooled or something and say that it's rude to ask about family secrets if they insist.”

 

Yugi pinched the bridge of his nose. “Makes as much sense as anything ever does, I guess.” He muttered. “How do we keep ending up in these situations anyway?” He asked the pillow to his left, rhetorically, but Yami answered him anyway.

 

“God's blessings are as valued as they are perilous.” Yami said softly. “They come with certain burdens and expectations. We know that better than anyone.”

 

Yugi hummed in silent agreement. Yes, they knew indeed.

 

“Anyway. The 'hearing'. As far as I could read in-between the lines, someone in their magical Ministry – and apparently they have a Ministry – has a grudge against the kid and doesn't believe an attack has happened, or something along those lines. As such, we are to be witnesses, if we agree. I said I wanted to talk to you first, before making a decision.”

 

“I'll help, if you think it's a good idea.” Yugi answered seriously. “We owe these people for bringing us in and not leaving us on the streets. Plus, for once, they're people who seem to have actually good intentions.”

 

“I thought you might say that.” Yami directed him a small smile. “I don't mind helping them either. For one, I am very intrigued with this place and the people. For another,” His gaze hardened. “Even if they change their mind later, they will find us far from incapable of defending ourselves. We just need to play it safe and smart. And as we know, there is no one better at games than me...”

 

Yami straightened where he sat, looking every inch the Pharaoh he was, and gazed at him with warmth and affection.

 

“.. with the exception of you, my little King. Together, we are unstoppable.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So okay hi..? I dont really have any excuses, just that Ive been v/busy. I havent abandoned this story, I am too invested in it. And I love yugioh so much...
> 
> sorry for not giving a really proper chapter this time. I promise more hp characters soon
> 
> also I love you all, thank you for believing in me, and thank you for the inspiring reviews <3


	10. Interlude - Kaiba

Jackson had developed a tick sometime during the last half-hour. The first fifteen or so minutes had not been so bad in all honesty, but he knew that the Boss-man was waiting on any news from the site and was most definitely getting increasingly more and more irritated due to the lack of any information.

He looked around and fiddled with his sleeves, trying to smooth out the fabric. Normally he would have passed the time by checking his phone, but right now, he would have happily discarded it, just so he could avoid having to contact his employer.

He tried to appear calm and at ease, which proved difficult, seeing as he had to wait patiently for any news from the location he wasn't allowed to enter - the last known whereabouts of his employer's associates.

Jackson would have done anything right now, to not have landed this shift. Unfortunately, when one worked for someone as influential as Seto Kaiba, one did not get any say in what they wanted, unless they were looking to be fired.

Plus, Jackson was a rather rare and special case. Aside from having an outstanding resume, he also came as someone who was personally recommended to Mister Kaiba by Mister Isono himself. With such a high praise, well, Jackson had a lot of expectations to live up to.

He was good at his job. He listened to orders, had a great analytical mind and was as discreet as they got.

However, even that would not save him from Mister Kaiba's wrath, if he failed to deliver good news.

Probably.

Maybe Mister Isono's input would protect him some, but he would not count on that. Best prepare for a worst-case scenario.

With a sigh, Jackson could easily admit to himself that he was in way over his head with this job.

Sure, working for Mister Kaiba had prepared him for a lot of things he had never expected, or even dreamed, that he would _ever_ have to be prepared for.

Like how the smaller Master Kaiba got regularly kidnapped.

Or how one Jounouchi Katsuya _did_ actually have access to the areas that were restricted to pretty much everyone else.

Or that magic apparently _existed_ and his employers, as well as their associates, all had it, some more so than others.

It was safe to say that it was hard to surprise him by now.

_Make him sweat nervously and fidget like a small child expecting the worst lecture of his life though_... hmm.

"Sir!" Jackson looked up at the shout, trying to not appear hopeful, lest he jinxed it.

"Andersen." He acknowledged the shorter man as he walked up to him. "Please tell you got something good." His voice didn't sound at all like he was pleading. It did not.

Worryingly, Andersen simply shook his head slowly, his lips pursed in a thin line.

"Sorry, sir, but we didn't find either the King or the Pharaoh." Andersen didn't seem to find the code-names strange in the slightest. Good. He would go far, if he didn't ask questions and kept his mouth shut.

Meanwhile though, Jackson could also feel his hope start to shrivel up slowly in his chest. Before it died completely, however, Andersen thrust a small box at him.

"This is all we recovered." He explained. "It's one of the cards from the King's deck."

Jackson cautiously took the small rectangle box and flipped open the lid. He closed his eyes and gave a small exhale, before he straightened his posture and pinned Andersen with a fierce look.

"Thank you. I will inform Mister Kaiba. I am assuming you are going to stay with the team and clean up the residue?" The residue here referred to the leftover magic that would still cover the area after any Shadow-related incidents.

Mister Kaiba usually had his team of magically-inclined people get rid of any traces of it that were left over after dealing with the problem. It was a precaution, one that was strictly enforced, so that the various magics couldn't be traced back to them by someone else who might seek to harm the Court.

It was also something that Andersen had a lot more knowledge of than he did. Jackson wasn't one of the ones with that particular talent. His skills lied more in the Public Relations department and efficient organization.

Andersen slowly took out a pack of cigarettes and pulled one out, tilting the small box towards him in a silent offer.

Jackson usually would have refrained, but today...

_Fuck it._

He took one and gracefully accepted the lighter too. Igniting the flame with a few clicks, he lit the cigarette and passed the lighter back to Andersen who calmly lit his.

He took a slow, long drag and let the smoke fill his lungs, before he breathed it out, and felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. Blasted things.

"We're gonna see if we can get a better idea of what happened, sir. After that we'll go through the usual clean-up." Andersen had the cigarette between his teeth now, and was hurriedly typing something away on his tablet. "The scene doesn't read much different from the usual, apart from, you know, the usual, sir."

Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose. Yes, _apart from the usual_. That was exactly the problem. It wasn't an every-day occurrence when two of the strongest Mages in the world went missing, with nothing to show for it, except a single trading card.

None of the satellites had picked up anything either, as all the footage taken at the time of the incident, had just showed static and there wasn't any way to fix it.

No outside sabotage had been detected either, magical or otherwise. Jackson had no doubt that Mister Kaiba would have known immediately, if that had been the problem.

"Do you think this will help?" He gestured vaguely in the direction of the small box containing the King's card that Andersen had given him. It now resided safely in his pocket. With a sigh, he flicked the cigarette end with his finger and let the sooth be carried away by the small breeze.

"Think so, sir." Andersen was already onto his second cigarette, while Jackson was barely half-way through his first one.

"The card might want to speak with Mister Kaiba. At least that's the vibe I was getting from it." He shrugged. "It won't talk to any of us, not yet anyway. But if either of _them_ gave it a specific order to speak to select people only, I imagine that Mister Kaiba is probably on the list. Sir." He tackled on as an afterthought.

Jackson was too tired to even pretend to be interested in how Andersen went about communicating with a card. _Freaking magic._ His world view had been a whole-lot simpler just a few months ago. But at least he had something. Hopefully, it would be enough to keep his job too.

"Thank you again, Andersen. I'll tell Mister Kaiba that you'll be sending your report shortly." Report that included all the magical jargon that he didn't get, but Mister Kaiba would probably find helpful. "And thanks for the cig."

Andersen shrugged his shoulders. "Seemed like you needed it, sir." He then turned around and started off towards the site again. "The report should be with Mister Kaiba in about an hour, sir." He waved his hand back at Jackson in an absent-minded goodbye, already focused back on typing out the specifics rapidly.

"Right.." He took the last drag out of his cigarette and tossed the end in the nearby bin. "No use of delaying this."

He smoothed out his sleeves for the final time and pulled out his phone, quickly finding his employer's number and letting it ring, a small amount of trepidation colouring his thoughts.

"Kaiba speaking. Jackson, give me your report." He definitely sounded like his usual icy, calm self. That didn't tell him much about his actual mood, however. Mister Kaiba was good at masking his feelings when he felt like it.

"The team seems to be mostly finished with their observations, sir. Nothing out of the ordinary concerning the readings, so nothing to indicate where the King and the Pharaoh have gone. Andersen's crew found one of the King's cards laying around, however. He says it wants to speak to you." Jackson rattled off quickly. "Andersen also mentioned that he's sending the report to you in about an hour."

He heard a quiet hum. "A card from Yugi? Which one?"

"Uh, the Kuriboh, sir." He did not stutter. A connection flaw. That's all that it was.

"Yugi would never willingly part from _that_ card, not without a good reason." His employer muttered to himself. "He's too damn attached to it." Jackson was at least seventy-six percent sure that he was not supposed to hear that.

So he stayed silent.

Mister Kaiba exhaled sharply. "Go to the closest Kaiba Corp branch and get the jet to fly you over here immediately. I'll alert them that you are coming." Jackson could hear papers being shuffled on the other end and then Mister Kaiba speaking to someone in rapid Japanese, before he switched back to English.

"Don't make any unnecessary stops along the way, don't disclose why you're coming here and don't let anyone else know about the card. Protect it, like your life depends on it."

"Yes, sir!" He managed to get out, just before the line went dead.

Removing the phone from his ear, he stared at the screen for a long second.

Well. At least he still had a job.

* * *

It was hours later that Kaiba received a call from his secretary downstairs, alerting him of Jackson's arrival.

"Send him up immediately."

He put down the phone and leaned forward with his elbows resting on the desk and hands clenched together in front of him. He allowed himself a brief second of reprieve, letting his eyes slip closed and slowly breathing in, then out.

The last thirty-or-so hours had been a damn headache. And he hadn't slept a wink in between all of it.

Just this morning Mokuba had asked him why he hadn't Shadow-travelled to England by himself, as it surely would have been faster than waiting for someone else come to see him.

He had waved it off with an excuse about not being so concerned as to do that, but it was clear that Mokuba didn't believe him, if the 'yeah, right' stare he had gotten was any indication.

His little brother wasn't stupid.

The actual truth of the matter, however, was that he was simply too exhausted to even attempt to try Shadow-travelling over such a distance. Not unless he wanted to chance getting lost somewhere in the in-between of the Shadow Realm and the real world.

That in itself wouldn't have been much of a problem, because he would always eventually find a way out, that was the simple truth.

The problem laid in the fact that the time passed differently there. It might feel like he had been in there for not even a minute, when in reality it could have been hours.

The only people that seemed to be capable of controlling the time passage to their benefit were Yugi and Yami. And they couldn't help shit in this situation. Their status had officially been declared as unknown and missing.

_Fucking idiots, the both of them. What had he said before they went and pulled this? To not do it._ He growled low in his throat.

Just recently, Yugi and Yami had been wanting to go over the specifics with everyone to hopefully teach them how the time-controlling shtick could be used for their own ends too. However, those experiments hadn't even started yet. Without a solid theory, Seto couldn't risk trying anything, in case something went wrong. They couldn't afford another Court member going missing.

He was startled out of his thoughts as heard a firm knock on his office door and quickly straightened. It wouldn't do to present weaknesses, not even to his own employees. Or - _especially_ \- to them.

"Enter." He growled and the door opened to reveal a tall and sharply dressed, but ultimately nondescript man. Someone, who was perfect for blending in with the crowd.

The man swiftly bowed to him and lingered at the entrance, but Seto just waved him over impatiently.

"Jackson. Any complications on the way? Suspicious bystanders or weird occurrences?"

"No, sir." Jackson answered promptly and swiftly pulled out a small box from his pocket, before taking a few steps forward to carefully set it down on his desk.

Seto grudgingly approved his efficiency.

He didn't make any move to pull the box closer to him, despite the fact that he really wanted to.

Instead he shifted his full focus on the man in front of him. Admittedly, at first he had been cautious about the new hire, but he had trusted Isono's decision. And the trust had paid off fully, so far. Jackson was almost frighteningly competent and had just the right amount of questionable morals to do the job properly.

Over time Seto had learned to keep the ones with valuable skills close to him. It was the only way to survive in the cut-throat business world that he had been a part of ever since his childhood. As such, he had learned to appreciate the ones under him that did their best without asking annoying questions, and he also knew when to reward them.

"Thank you." He said somewhat stiffly, ignoring how the man straightened in mute surprise. "You may now leave. Some facilities have been prepared for your arrival where you can rest until you decide to go. Speak to the secretary."

"Thank you, sir." Jackson said, hesitantly. He then bowed again, this time even lower, and left the room without daring to glance backwards.

_Click_.

As soon as the door had closed properly, Seto gave in the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. At the rate he was going, he might have to consider investing into painkillers. The dull throbbing behind his eyes did nothing to help him concentrate.

Logically, he knew that getting a proper rest would do him a whole lot of good, but that simply was not an option right now.

He opened his eyes and glared at the small box still resting innocently in front of him.

What a mockery.

He pulled the box closer to him and flipped it open. The Kuriboh card was staring up at him.

He glared right back.

"Are you going to come out, or..?" He got a weak impression of a performed action. "Fine."

He channelled some of his power into the card and watched, with a complete lack of emotion, as the tiny puffball popped into a translucent existence right in front of him.

"Kuri-kuri!" The tiny Kuriboh hovered around, looking at their surroundings agitatedly.

"Yes, now talk."

* * *

Seto had been so wrong when he had assumed that his headache could not get any worse.

Right now, he had just finished typing out a message that he would send to everyone that was in a definitely-need-to-know basis concerning the incident.

He blinked his eyes rapidly, and forced himself to concentrate, then checked the message for one final time.

_Em heset net Imen._

_A card from the King has been recovered._

_It tells a tale most mysterious._

_Lack of Light, absence of Dark._

_A spell of magic most daring,_

_And of too late a-warning._

_Gather around as I tell you the tale,_

_When moonlight shines the brightest._

_Ii-wy em hotep._

It was a coded message, of course. Similar to poetry but worse, mainly because he had to come up with it by himself.

However, he couldn't very well send something that would plainly spell out what had happened. There was always the off-chance that some prying eyes would happen to look upon something they really shouldn't, and get too interested.

The code too was great in it's simplicity. To an outsider it probably just looked like some silly rhyme with no real meaning, which was exactly what they wanted.

To those that the message was actually meant for, they would know what to look for.

_King_ referred to Yugi, of course. _Lack of light and absence of dark_ were the Shadows. _When moonlight shines the brightest_ pointed towards when the meeting would take place.

They all knew where, they just needed the time. And a full moon was just a few days off. Plenty of time for everyone important to get here.

Seto scowled. When the two idiots got back, he would kill them for making him do this.

Finding the message to be acceptable, he quickly forwarded it to the relevant people.

For now, it was time to play the waiting game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Em heset net Imen. - Apparently, a common greeting when starting a letter. Used in Ancient Egypt (if you can trust the Internet). It means 'May you be in favour with Amun'.
> 
> Ii-wy em hotep. -An emphatic Hello in peace or Welcome in peace.
> 
> A/N. I lied again. I promised more hp characters, but some stuff just happened and we do have Kaiba this time. We needed an update of what Kaiba was doing during their disappearance!
> 
> He has a lot of thoughts, istg.
> 
> Also some minor ocs. Not sure if they'll reappear, but I needed Kaiba to have some employees that had actual names, for plot reasons, that weren't the two guys he's usually hanging around with.
> 
> Isono is an actual character in the show, tho.
> 
> Back to Yami and Yugi next time.


	11. The Discoveries

“We probably don't have much time left before they wonder what is taking us so long and come looking for us.” Yami frowned at the sealed door.

 

“Mana is still keeping watch, of course, so at least we'll have a warning. I am unsure whether these wizards will be able to detect our magic. Obviously, they noticed _something_ to be able to determine why we were unconscious, but the ones downstairs didn't mention anything. Then again, they could just be _pretending_ they're ignorant, although I didn't get that vibe.”

 

Yugi nodded wearing a similar frown. “That's a valid concern, but trust your instincts, as they are usually correct. And, I mean, we know that we can detect _their_ magic, but theirs is so different, I can't begin to guess what it can do. I can also see what you meant by it being layered. It feels really.. heavy.” That was the best way he could put it.

 

That, plus the sensation like he was being stabbed by an ice pick in the brain. The feeling came so out of the left field, that he barely managed to mask his flinch in time.

 

He saw Yami nodding thoughtfully, thankfully unaware of his almost-slip. “You could certainly say that. Also, there's... another thing. Something I might have forgotten to mention to Mahado, when I sent him off.”

 

“Oh?” Yugi's own voice sounded more weary, than really questioning. There was already so much weirdness happening right now, what else was there?

 

“Do you remember the whole Paradox fiasco?”

 

He shouldn't have thought that. “Uh, well, yeah. Meeting Judai and Yusei was quite interesting... but everything else... I'd rather you didn't remind me.” Yugi groaned. “Do I want to know why you're bringing this up?”

 

“Wellll.... right now, I'm betting on us having time travelled.”

 

Yugi slowly looked up. “You're kidding, right?”

 

“I truly wish I was, partner.”

 

A sigh left him. Being who they were, it was probably too much to hope for something ordinary to happen.

 

Suddenly, he was almost missing the run-of-the-mill kidnapping attempts.

 

“Do we know _when_ we are?”

 

“The _'Daily Prophet'_ newspapers on the table were definitely recent make and the date was something-something August, 1995.” A slightly mocking smile graced Yami's lips. Yeah, he too could see the grim humour in this situation.

 

“So that puts us just over five years in the past, _probably_. Hmm. To be fair, that might very well explain the phones and possibly the memory gap-ow!” Yugi hissed at the sudden, intense agony that came completely out of nowhere and made black spots appear in his vision as he tried to blink through it.

 

Yugi felt Yami's concern wash over him like wave. _Shoot_. Had he let the pain pass his shields? He really hoped he hadn't, although it was unlikely Yami hadn't noticed. _Damn_. They had more than enough to worry about. This headache was just a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things right now.

 

However, another spike of pain made him hunch over and let out a strangled breath. His hands latched at his temples and he didn't realise his nails were digging into the skin near his temples, probably leaving marks, until he became aware of the stream of Yami's concerned thoughts.

 

“-ugi! Partner!” The voice suddenly came into focus as Yami's hands grasped at his, gently but firmly pulling them away from his head.

 

He was surprised when the touch brought some unexpected, but welcome relief and looked up to see Yami staring at him with desperation and even some fear.

 

The Shadows around them wavered in agitation, stretching and expanding, and sealing off the entire room. They could feel the echoes of Yugi's torment, but were unable to help without a physical enemy present.

 

Yugi leaned forward, trying to lean into Yami's space. The pain felt more muted when he did. Why though? He had been okay, literally _seconds_ ago. Sure there had been pain, but nothing close to what he had just experienced.

 

His forehead was pressed against Yami's chest. _Huh_ , he didn't remember leaning that far in. He felt Yami embracing him lightly.

 

Dimly he realized he had never answered and knew that he really ought to.

 

He took a deep breath and tapped on Yami's collarbone with two of his fingers.

 

Almost immediately he felt Yami shift and suddenly found himself once again blinking up and looking at Yami's face, as his other's eyes frantically searched his. His face was being cradled between Yami's palms.

 

That felt rather nice and warm.

 

 _'Hey, your eyelashes are actually really long...'_ Yugi though to himself in a daze.

 

Or maybe not just to himself, as he saw Yami crack a tiny, mostly forced grin, as a thumb brushed itself across his cheek.

 

 _'And your kohl is smudged everywhere.'_ Yami sent back, pressing their foreheads together.

 

' _Ugh_.' Yugi squeezed his eyes shut. The pain was definitely a lot more tolerable with the close contact. ' _What in the damned hell was that anyway? You felt it, right? I'm sorry._ '

 

' _Don't apologize for your pain. Please, never do that._ ' Yami said seriously. ' _I'm sorry for thinking it would be alright for you. As Mahado and you said, it's a different branch of magic. We have no idea what the side-effects are. The only thing I know for sure is that we'll likely be stuck with the headache until we adjust to this magic. I'm... unsure as to why the touch is helping._ '

 

While that didn't really explain much, Yugi just felt relieved that the hurt would leave eventually.

 

For now, however, the touch did make it easier to bear. Having their skin brush where the clothes didn't cover it, seemed to quell the pain even further.

 

Yugi hummed at this new discovery, trying to focus through the blanket of pain that was still laid across his mind, and let his hand trace a line up Yami's neck, noting a tiny hitch in the Pharaoh's breathing. Hmm, that made him... happy, for some reason.

 

Squeezing his eyes tighter, he tried to pull his thoughts together. ' _Maybe it's to do with the fact that our magic is similar and manages to somewhat shield this one._ ' Yugi guessed. He shifted around so he could rest his head on Yami's shoulder. ' _Still doesn't explain why I was better off beforehand._ '

 

He felt Yami give a small shrug and felt helplessness float across the link. ' _I don't know what to tell you, partner. We'll have to ask Mahado, whenever he gets back here. Maybe he'll have a theory._ '

 

“Yeah..” he breathed out, comforted with the knowledge that at least they weren't alone here. He carefully tried to avoid thinking what this meant for their friends.

 

 _Tried_ , being the key word.

 

He trusted Seto to handle the situation with care because, despite all his scowling and generally unfriendly behaviour, Yugi knew that deep-down Seto _did_ 'give a fuck', as Jou had said. Mokuba's worried presence would help push things along too. There was likely a Court session approaching. One that they would miss, because, once again, they were the reason for it.

 

Malik and Ryou would also be fine. They would probably immerse themselves into researching this new development, but they would also know when to take a break. And if they didn't, then Isis or Rishid would make them take one.

 

Honestly, Yugi was more worried about how Jou, Honda and Anzu would take this. He hoped they wouldn't be overly worried, although that was probably just wishful thinking. At least they all had things to occupy themselves with, so they wouldn't spend _all_ their time worrying.

 

Jou had tournaments to attend, most of which couldn't be put on hold. The latest one had been organized to raise money for a charity.

 

Honda had been working hard lately and rarely had time off, but he often called in, same as Jou.

 

Anzu, of course, had her dance school and as such, was in-touch less often. Last they had heard from her, she was doing really well and hadn't managed to stop gushing over the different techniques she had picked up, while talking over the phone.

 

Neither Yami, nor Yugi had managed to hold their smiles at her honest enthusiasm. They were really happy it was working out for her. Yugi hoped that this situation wouldn't distract her from her goal.

 

They would get back eventually. They always did.

 

“Masters!” Mana's voice startled Yugi out of his thoughts.

 

“Yes?” Yami thankfully took charge of speaking, as Yugi hadn't yet managed to re-orient himself. However, he was able to at least raise his head, leaving his hand on Yami's, for comfort and some pain-relief.

 

“They're preparing to come up. You have a few minutes, tops.” She glanced at Yugi worriedly, having felt his pain echo in the Shadows.

 

“Damn. Okay. Yugi.” Yami squeezed his hand. “Let me take on a share of the pain. Don't-” He interrupted before Yugi could even open his mouth to protest. “-argue right now. _I_ know that _you_ know that I am better off right now. I – we - need you at your best.”

 

Yugi closed his mouth, dismayed at the logic, but nodded reluctantly and passed on some of the pain threads over to Yami's side, and then stomped on the gnawing guilt he felt, when he saw Yami wince.

 

Despite his own reservations however, the difference he felt immediately afterwards was actually quite baffling. The fog that had enveloped him dissipated to a manageable levels and he could think clearer again. Strange. He knew he had only given over the bare minimum.

 

“Okay.” He finally found his voice. “Last minute additions, anyone?”

 

He felt, more than saw, Yami and Mana glance at each other, communicating wordlessly.

 

Yami cleared his throat. “Let's say we're cousins, that'll help explain the resemblance. Common ancestor or whatever.”

 

“Ah. We could also say we're travelling, because we're on a holiday and wanted to experience different cultures...” he tapped his chin. “ Hmm.. we don't like being separated... also I'm still feeling the effects of the Dement-ur's attack and magical exhaustion, so you're not letting you out of sight. That'll be helpful, especially if we have to keep in close contact to alleviate the pain.” Yugi finished and Yami nodded approvingly.

 

“That works fine. Hmm... Mana? Anything you can think of?” He looked back at Yugi. “We can always sort out the unexpected questions quietly between us and I can't really think of anything else right now.”

 

Yugi shrugged in agreement and looked at Mana expectedly.

 

Mana pursed her lips and tapped her staff against her helmet, where it made a pleasant clinking sound. She paused and then lifted her staff in front of her, tapped it with her finger and made a thoughtful sound.

 

“Got it!” She exclaimed. She focused back on them and quickly explained. “Tell them you lost your wands sometime before the attack.”

 

“Our.. wands?”

 

“Yep!” She nodded. “While I was spying on them I noticed that they were using little sticks to channel their magic. I heard the ginger-haired one mention something about his son who has a classmate, whose _wand_ is apparently under-performing. He used his stick as an example to point out something on it. I'm positive that it's an essential wizard's tool as he seemed quite concerned for the kid. It'll seem weird that you two don't have any on you. And this way, you might get your hands on some 'replacements' for yourselves and study them.”

 

“Good tip, that would have been confusing without prior knowledge. Probably suspicious too. Thanks, Mana.” Yami smiled at her gratefully and Yugi gave her a two-fingered salute.

 

Mana did a little twirl and then stopped mid-air to tilt her head towards the door. “They're almost at the door. Permission to look for Master and update him on the news?” She looked at them hopefully. “I promise we'll be back as soon as we can.”

 

“Yeah, of course.” Yugi nodded. “Thanks for looking out for us!”

  
“No problem, my Princes!” She smiled, but then turned serious again. “I'll tell him about your condition too. I for one, don't like it. So try to take it easy, kay?” She floated up close and ruffled Yugi's hair gently.

 

“As much as we can.” Yugi assured her, for the both of them.

 

To be fair, they couldn't promise more than that and Mana knew it.

 

“They're here.” She whispered suddenly. “'Ta!” She waved and quietly melted into the Shadows.

 

Yami stood up, one hand still gripping Yugi's and waved at the Shadows, letting them go back to their normal, dormant state.

 

And not a second too late, as they immediately heard a quiet knock and a voice calling out to them.

 

“Are you alright in there?” It sounded kind, if a bit concerned.

 

“Coming! Just give us a second.” Yami called, then lowered his voice as he turned back to him. “That's Remus. He's a Dark one and has some weird things going on with his aura.” He whispered. “The other one is inclined towards Light, so you'll have to get a read on him, but I think you'll like them both anyway. They seem genuinely nice.”

 

“Oh?” Yugi raised an eyebrow curiously, only to wince at the impending headache that the gesture left him with, and scowled. He waved of Yami's worried frown with a sigh.

 

Was he going to have to refrain from making facial expressions for the next several weeks, or something, until the pain went? That would be irritating, not to mention nigh-impossible.

 

Thank the Gods, Yami's presence made it a lot more tolerable. If he wasn't around, _then_ Yugi would be in real trouble.

 

“Okay, partner. Come on.” Yami helped him up, and damn everything, but his legs really didn't feel up for the task. He could already feel the pins and needles.

 

They made it to the door and Yami looked over him for a final time, before pushing the door open.

 

The men on the other side were a bit of a surprise, if only for how... normal they looked, if one didn't count the weird robe-thing the ginger-haired man was wearing.

 

' _Ah, I can feel the power of Light in him, if not a lot._ ' It felt calm and soothing to Yugi's senses.

 

' _Not compared to you, partner. But that's a given._ ' Yami thought back and Yugi had to silently agree.

 

“Pardon the intrusion, I'm Yugi, and you've already met Yami. Thank you for taking care of us.” He uttered softly and gave a light bow. He felt Yami copy him, with some reluctance flooding across their bond.

 

He bit back a grin at that. The Pharaoh didn't like seeing him bow to anyone, seeing as he was higher ranked, but he had given in after Yugi had explained him that it was simply a part of their culture now. Plus, they couldn't really disclose their hierarchy to the public anyway.

 

He saw the ginger-haired man blinking at him, before his face broke into a warm smile.

 

“It was truly no trouble, Yugi..?” He pronounced the name slowly, but correctly and Yugi nodded. “My name is Arthur and this,” He gestured to the man to his right, who offered a nod, “is Remus.”

 

Yugi smiled at them, subtly adjusting his weight so that he could lean closer to Yami. “Pleasure to meet you.”

 

“We're just glad you're awake now.” Remus spoke in a soft voice. “I was afraid I would have to call the nurse in again to check on you. You've been out of it for quite a while.”

 

“Indeed!” Arthur exclaimed in a hushed tone. “Magical exhaustion on top of a Dementor attack? Merlin's beard, but that's not something I'd wish on anyone.”

 

' _Merlin, huh..._ ' Yami's thoughts floated over to him. Yugi made a mental note on the name.

 

“We're better now, no doubt thanks to you.” Yami finally said. “Also, we have decided to accept your offer. We'll help out, it's the least we can do.”

 

“Thank you, an outside testimony will be a tremendous help. Come on then, I shall lead you to the location where we'll been staying.” Arthur said, his expression visibly relieved as they started to the path downstairs. “Let us not linger here longer then necessary. I am sure you're hungry too. I made certain that something would be fixed up for you once we get there. My wife's cooking is unparalleled!” Affection coloured his voice.

 

“Sounds good.” Truthfully, Yugi wasn't all that hungry. He was aching and sore, and in pain, but not hungry. Yami picked up on that, shooting him a concerned look.

 

' _I know, partner. But food should help the recovery, if only a little._ ' He then sent over a wave of amused disgruntlement. ' _Mortal forms are rather inconvenient like that._ '

 

Yugi almost laughed out loud at that, but managed to cover it up with a cough. ' _Just because_ you _are a creature made mostly of Darkness and above us Mortals, doesn't mean_ all _of us can be the same.'_

 

' _Mmmm... You come pretty close to that already though. What with you hiding in dark rooms and playing video games._ '

 

' _Oh, shush. You know it's a part of the job and you're just jealous that Seto makes you actually face him in brightly lit stadiums._ '

 

' _I'm still convinced he's doing that on purpose. Also, I admit to nothing._ ' Yami sniffed.

 

Arthur looked around the house with some longing. “Here we are. Remus, if you'd like to grab your things?” Remus nodded in response and turned to pick up the suitcase he had probably packed while Yugi and Yami had been having their own talk.

 

“Good, good. We'll have to walk outside a bit to pass the wards. And then we'll have to side-apparate you to the location, which is in London.” He turned towards them. “You okay with that?”

 

' _Apparition..?_ ' Yugi asked.

 

' _Their method of transportation, I assume. Maybe like our Shadow Flickering? There's no way Arthur would have gotten here so fast otherwise._ ' Yami guessed.

 

' _Maybe. I'll guess we'll see._ '

 

“Yeah, that's fine.” Yugi said and Yami nodded.

 

After that, Arthur grabbed the newspaper from the coffee table and gave the room a sweeping glance to make sure he had what he needed. Satisfied, he waved them along and together they left the house.

 

They didn't walk very far, but for Yugi it seemed much longer than it actually was. Some of it due to the pain, but there was also fascination bleeding through.

 

' _These are the... what did he call it... wards?_ ' Yugi stared around with slightly widened eyes. Pale, slightly glowing threads wove all around them, like loose strings from a violin. They calmly floated around, seemingly unbothered by the slight wind. He almost flinched when he had to walk through a whole bunch that seemed like they were braided together, convinced that he would get tangled in them, but they passed through him like there was nothing there.

 

' _Yeah..._ ' Yami was staring too.

 

' _They're beautiful._ ' Yugi whispered and felt Yami's whole-hearted agreement. As he happened to look up towards where their new... associates were travelling slightly ahead of them, he noticed something and nudged Yami's arm.

 

' _What is it, partner?_ ' Yami immediately glanced at him, concernedly. ' _Is the pain picking up again?_ '

 

Yugi subtly shook his head. ' _No. I mean, a little, but not much. But that's not what I mean. Look at them._ ' He pointedly looked at Arthur and Remus.

 

At first, he felt a flash of confusion from Yami, but then it smoothed into understanding and a slight intrigue, as he continued watching the two men.

 

' _They can't see the threads, can they?_ '

 

Yugi shook his head. ' _I don't think so._ '

 

' _That's... something we'll have to look into. Hope they have some books they wouldn't mind me borrowing._ '

 

' _Borrowing._ ' Yugi flared his amusement.

 

' _Well, would you prefer me to call it 'stealing, but with the intention of returning the property'ing?_ '

 

Yugi pretended to think it over and leaned to the left, to avoid getting hit by the light threads in his face. Even if they just passed through him, it was still unnerving. Like getting hit in the face with a spider web. ' _Maybe_.'

 

The threads were getting sparser by the minute and now there were only a couple fluttering around them. They were probably on the very edge of their range now.

 

Arthur, who had been pretty quiet up to this point, finally came to a stop and also proved him right. “We're at the end of the wards, so let's apparate.”

 

' _He can sense them, but not see them._ ' Yami mused. ' _Very interesting, indeed._ '

 

“Alright then.” Yugi offered him a smile, and gripped Yami's elbow tighter.

 

' _We don't have to do anything, right? We just stand and let them do whatever it is they're doing. By Ra, I hate walking into unknown situations like these._ '

 

Yami flooded their bond with calm. ' _I think we'll be just fine._ '

 

And they were. There was a quick discussion between Remus and Arthur, as to which one of them would be doing the apparating. In the end, Arthur won as Remus caved-in.

 

Arthur came over to them and offered a small smile. “I know that side-along is not the nicest experience, but bear with me, okay?”

 

“Thank you.” Yugi nodded, unsure of what he should expect.

 

Arthur laid his hands on both Yugi and Yami's shoulders and what followed was the weirdest, most unpleasant experience they had subjected themselves to, so far.

 

As soon as Yugi became aware of ground below his feet again, he had to try and calm his racing heart. Next to him, Yami wasn't much better. And then he noticed the Shadows.

 

' _Ah, shit. Yami, we need to rein them in and quickly!_ ' He called out, thankful that Arthur and Remus were busy trying to locate a piece of paper, or something, as that meant they hadn't noticed the shifting Shadowy threads that did not look _at all_ natural.

 

' _Trying_.' Yami spoke, a slight strain in his mental voice. Yugi pursed his lips and lent him some of the strength that they were still recovering. The Shadows went reluctantly, but didn't object. He looked up to see if their two companions had noticed anything, but it seemed they had been lucky.

 

“Ah, there it is!” It looked like Arthur had managed to find the paper slip. “Over here, boys.” He waved.

 

They went closer, while Yugi carefully looked around. Yami had explained the _Fidelius charm_ to him, so he was curious to see if they could pick up on it, especially after seeing the wards.

 

' _Yami, it's there!_ ' He exclaimed.

 

These wards were a lot less noticeable. Not because they were weaker, if anything they felt even denser than the ones they had seen, but they were dark. Literally. Almost black, and very hard to see in the evening twilight. And he couldn't see the house shape very well... it was like it kept flickering in-and-out of the existence itself.

 

' _Wow._ ' Yami voiced, admiringly. ' _Once we're in, we_ have _to figure this one out._ '

 

' _Yeah_.' Yugi made sure his staring at the supposedly-hidden place wasn't blatantly obvious, as he was talking to Arthur at the same time.

 

Good thing he had had years to practice paying attention to several different conversations happening at the same time.

 

“-nd just read this text and concentrate hard on it. Then you'll be able to see the house.” Arthur finished.

 

Yugi and Yami both looked at the tiny piece of paper.

 

 

' _The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London_ '

 

Was written in a loopy handwriting.

 

' _An Order? Looks like they're not telling us everything._ '

 

Yugi snorted quietly. ' _And we've told them nothing at all._ '

 

After reading the words, they both looked up and Yugi didn't even have to pretend to give a surprised gasp, as it came rather naturally. The dark threads unwound from the house and extended towards them, including them both in it's protections as they were included in the charm.

 

“Amazing, isn't it?” Remus asked with a smile. Yugi mutely nodded, even though he was amazed due to a different reason than what Remus probably had in mind.

 

For Yami though, the gasp had a different reason.

 

' _Yugi._ ' Yami called in amazement. ' _Can you feel that?_ '

 

' _They... really like us. You_.' The dark threads had some _consciousness_ for themselves. They felt old. Much older that the ones at Arthur's house did. And they were happily winding themselves around Yami like excited kids. Made sense, with him commanding the Dark.

 

' _Both, actually, so you're right._ ' Yami said as they walked after Arthur and Remus, up the stairs and stopping at the front door, where Remus gave a soft knock. The closer they got, the more Yugi felt the magical influence settle over him and a couple of threads hesitantly ventured closer to his person too.

 

Yami was loving it. And Yugi was too, his mind open to Yami's feelings. This Darkness was rather delightful and welcomed them, as warmly as a sort-of-sentient consciousness could.

 

The door opened to reveal a red-headed, motherly-looking woman.

 

“Arthur, dear! You're back!” She exclaimed in a hushed whisper with a smile and leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek. “Remus too! And our guests, I presume?” She directed a smile to them. “Come on in, it's getting a bit chilly out here.”

 

' _She's a Light too. And I sense more around. Probably upstairs? Either way, they're close._ '

 

' _Mmm. Makes you wonder what so many Lights are doing_ here.'

 

Yugi and Yami followed her in the house, and nodded politely as Arthur introduced them to her - his wife Molly-, and called out simple greetings as well as apologies for intruding.

 

“Oh, don't you worry, dears.” Her tone was warm. “I'm glad you're all better now. Would you like to come to the kitchen? You need some food, and we'll talk a bit about everything. The hearing too, of course.”

 

“When's that again?” Remus questioned.

 

“The day after tomorrow.” Molly responded promptly, leading them towards the kitchen, presumably. “Harry dear is quite uptight about it, not that I blame him.”

 

“Is Albus coming today?” Arthur asked, glancing around the dim hallway.

 

Molly hummed. “I believe so.”

 

They had reached the kitchen. It was as dark as the rest of the place, from what they had seen thus far.

 

“Let me make you some tea, dears.” Yugi nodded at her gratefully, mouthing a quiet 'thanks'.

 

He was glad that they were mostly leaving them out of the conversation. He was still very tired, as was Yami, and he knew they picked up on it from their body language, which thankfully meant that they weren't pushing any questions on them yet either.

 

At least, until whenever that Albus person showed up.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N. Kay Im so done with this chapter. This is like 10 pages man, I cant do more rn. Hope you enjoy it tho!
> 
> To all my reviewers: I love you!


	12. The Interactions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking and everything moving as slowly as ever. Still, stuff's important and needs to be said.

 

 

"That's much appreciated." Yami said and Yugi smiled at Molly as she put the tea mugs in front of them.

  
  


"Of course, dears. I'm afraid we only have black tea around, but I hope you'll find it to your liking. Sugar?"

  
  


"Please."

  
  


Yami absent-mindedly dropped a couple of teaspoons of sugar in his cup and stirred it with his spoon. Tea wasn't exactly his preferred choice of drink, but even he doubted that getting more caffeine in his system right now would be a good idea. He blew off the steam that was rising from the cup and took a small, appraising sip as considered the flavour.

  
  


Hmm, it was not his favourite, but he could tell that the tea was good quality and Molly seemed to have the skills to prepare it, rather than just pouring boiling water on top of the tea leaves, like so many people did.

  
  


"Let me get you some food as well. You need it to recover." She called over.

  
  


Yami looked up, slightly startled to realise he had zoned out. He bit the inside of his cheek in irritation and resolved to pay more attention to his surroundings.

  
  


He blamed the headache, as well as the general atmosphere in the house. The magic was still winding around close to him and Yugi, vying to receive their attention, and even though he found himself not minding it, it did take away from his focus. However, they had already decided to examine it later, once they would hopefully be given a room for themselves.

  
  


"Thank you again. Sorry for the trouble." Yugi spoke up, while he was sorting out his thoughts and Yami gratefully squeezed Yugi's hand under the table, where they kept the point of contact, and felt Yugi's reassurance flow back to him.

  
  


"Oh, it's no trouble at all." Molly assured, placing a tray of biscuits and sandwiches on the table. "Just make sure to eat something, even if you don't really feel like doing so."

  
  


They looked up, slightly surprised that she had taken note of their apprehensive expressions.

  
  


Molly treated them with a motherly smile and Yami could feel Yugi squeeze his hand just a little tighter. "I am familiar with both the magical exhaustion and the aftermath of a dementor's attack, although not first-hand. Eating is not exactly a priority when you're dealing with either, from what I've been told. But I promise, you'll feel better afterwards."

  
  


Beside him, Yugi let out a small breath. "Alright, we'll try." With that, Yugi reached out and took a biscuit, taking a small bite out of it and Yami followed the suit, making Molly nod in satisfaction.

  
  


“I'm hoping Albus will show up soon, I'd rather have you resting as soon as possible. Sleep is an important part of the recovery process. How do you feel, dears?”

  
  


' _Again with this Albus person. Who is he?_ '

  
  


' _We'll ask in a minute. Oh. We should bring up the 'wands' too._ '

  
  


' _Right._ '

  
  


“Tired.” Yami answered honestly. He decided not to mention the headache they both were still experiencing, as he was reasonably sure that it was the new magic's fault, rather than anything else.

  
  


“And rather stiff.” Yugi added.

  
  


Molly tutted. “While that's to be expected, I'm wondering if we should have Poppy do another check-up.” She turned to Arthur and Remus. “What do you both think?”

  
  


Remus, who had been quietly sitting a little ways off from them and nursing his own mug, looked up with a considering look. “I'm not sure. Didn't Poppy say they should just rest and take it easy, for the most part though? There aren't really any potions that help with either of these things.” He lifted his hand to his face and tapped his chin, seemingly in deep thought. “If anything, I would just advise for you two to eat some chocolate.” He nodded at Yami and Yugi.

  
  


“Yes, I think that's a good idea.” Arthur spoke up. “It certainly won't make anything worse.” He obviously noticed their slight confusion. “Ah, sorry, boys. Poppy is a nurse, she was the one who did the check-ups on you, when you first arrived.”

  
  


Yami nodded, understandingly. Of course, that made sense. “Please tell her we said thanks, in case we don't get to do it for ourselves.”

  
  


Arthur inclined his head in acknowledgement. “Oh, certainly. She'll be glad to hear that you're okay. As for the chocolate, it's the most effective medicine for getting rid of the effects of a dementor's attack.” He waved his hand. “Don't ask me why, I have no clue. But it's a proven fact, that chocolate lifts a person's mood, which is one of the main points a dementor has a great effect upon.” Yami saw Remus nodding along.

  
  


“Oh? How unusual!” Yugi blinked at them, curiously. “I'll bet that's the best tasting medicine anyone's ever had though! If I had to guess, I'd wager that it helps due to chocolate increasing the levels of endorphins in the brain.”

  
  


' _Chocolate? Seriously? Ryou would probably enjoy hearing this. The best cure for a creature is literally a bar of candy._ ' Yugi though with some humour, but it was immediately diminished at the reminder of his friend.

  
  


' _I'll say._ ' Yami thought back, but a similar weariness weighed down upon his shoulders too.

  
  


Arthur, however, was unaware of their sudden mood shift and instead was excitedly leaning forward. “What are these en-dol-pheens you speak of? Is that a muggle thing? Like a part of the scii-en-cee studies I've heard of?”

  
  


“Now, now, dear.” Molly warningly patted him on the shoulder, with enough force to make him wince and sheepishly back off. “You can ask your questions after the boys have had their chance to rest properly.”

  
  


' _Muggle thing? Scie-en-cee? Oh gods, we're way down into the deep-end with this one, aren't we?_ '

  
  


' _Yep._ ' Yami thought, trying to keep his face neutral. ' _We're in a different time, none of our friends are reachable and are likely freaking out – except Kaiba, probably –_ and _we've gotten involved with these strange people, one of which we will be helping out for, in front of a Ministry that we've never heard of before. I just wish I knew what we can expect next._ '

  
  


' _Exactly._ And _we just need to learn everything we can about an entirely new culture in the span of few days, so it doesn't seem like we're too out of place. How hard can it beee?_ ' Yugi dragged out the word with obvious sarcasm. ' _Also, do they seem a little... backwater to you?'_ He used the word with some hesitation, as he disliked to call these people that, but it seemed appropriate from what he had just heard.

  
  


' _It does seem like they don't have much knowledge of scientific discoveries, yeah._ '

  
  


“Sorry, _mugg-le_?” Yami made sure to pronounce the word with exaggerated slowness, hoping they would elaborate. “I'm afraid I haven't picked up all of slang yet.” He hoped it qualified as such.

  
  


“I was wondering about that, actually.” Remus spoke up. “You both are obviously not using the translation charm, or it would have worn off by now and I haven't seen your wands either.”

  
  


“Um, yeah.” Yugi smiled, sheepishly, trying to come up with an explanation quickly.

  
  


The 'wands'. The damn 'wands'. They _had_ to talk about those soon, before it became too suspicious. However, they were interested in this 'muggle' thing, and mentioning their lack of... - attributes? weapons? tools of trade? - whatever they were; would probably distract their hosts from the stuff they actually wanted to hear about right now.

  
  


“Well, we had to study English back at home anyway, so we just try to practice whenever we can. It's more of a generalized study though, so we pick bits up along the way, as we travel.” Yami interjected in the meanwhile.

  
  


There. And it wasn't even a lie.

  
  


“That's amazing.” Remus said, with an admiring smile and Molly, who had been listening in, nodded enthusiastically. “We don't really get language classes around here, as it's not a requirement. A bit of a shame, actually.”

  
  


He took a sip of his tea, which made Yami remember his own and prompted him to do the same. He was surprised to find it the same temperature as he had left it. More of this magic, probably.

  
  


There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it and he wasn't sure if he liked that and his thoughts bled over. Yugi inclined his head in agreement to both statements.

  
  


Remus put down his mug and put his elbow on the table, leaning in to prop his chin on his hand. “So, 'Muggle' is just the term for what we call the people with no magic. I'm sure you have something similar to it. I think the term was coined sometime before the 17th century.” He looked thoughtful. “I'd have to brush up on my history, to tell you for certain though. As for other countries, I know that Americans, for example, mostly go with 'no-majs' and I've heard of some that call them 'mundanes'.”

  
  


“Ah, thank you.” Yugi listened intently. He did actually like learning about different languages and had gotten really good at several ones.

  
  


Additionally, this was essential information for them and would at least give them a starting point, while they did their own research, but that was for them to know.

  
  


“So what about Japan?” Remus questioned.

  
  


Yami startled slightly and mentally flailed around for a bit, trying to gather his thoughts. Damn.

  
  


“Ah... I think we just call them... let me see how to best translate it.” Yugi thankfully interjected and then pretended to consider the question.

  
  


' _Fu..tsūnohito..? Aaa.. futsuu..? Do you think that would work, Yami?_ '

  
  


' _Futsuu? As in_ ' _Normal'?_ ' Yami thought it over quickly. ' _Yes, I think it'll do. Simple, but to the point._ '

  
  


“Aa. Sorry about that. Languages are a bit of a chore.” Yugi smiled, as he scratched the back of his neck. “I think it best translates as 'Normals'. Although it might just be for the region where we resided.”

  
  


“It's always so fascinating, learning about the different cultures.” Molly commented, having sat down next to her husband and Remus, who were both listening intently.

  
  


Yami felt like sagging in relief, but was too dignified to show it. They had bought it.

  
  


' _Well, we haven't really given them any reason not to trust us, so why wouldn't they._ ' Yugi reasoned.

  
  


' _But we haven't given them a reason to trust us either._ ' Yami cautioned, and his heart ached at Yugi's answering wave of resigned agreement.

  
  


“Oh, most definitely. I've always been interested in how our country differs from the others.” Remus agreed.

  
  


“Yeah, but you're a teacher anyway.” Arthur elbowed him good-naturedly. “You were always the more studious one.”

  
  


“You're a teacher?” Yugi raised an eyebrow in curiosity that was now shadowed by the lingering doubt. Yami hated to be the one who caused it, but there was no helping it. They had to stay vigilant.

  
  


“Well, not a teacher anymore.” Remus shot Arthur an exasperated look.

  
  


“He used to teach in Hogwarts.” Molly corrected. “He had to quit due to.. personal circumstances.” She shot an uncertain look at Remus, something that neither Yami nor Yugi missed.

  
  


' _Do we ask?_ ' Yugi asked at length.

  
  


Yami considered the question. ' _I don't think we should._ _It might be important, but I doubt it. We've only just met the man. We'll figure it out later, if we have to._ '

  
  


' _Agreed. You said that Fang was interested in him anyway. If he wants to investigate, I say we let him._ '

  
  


Yami sent a mental agreement.

  
  


“There is something important we need to ask about, however.” Yami intoned seriously, observing the barely concealed sighs of relief at his abrupt subject change.

  
  


Obviously, whatever it was that they weren't willing to disclose, the matter was a sensitive one. He would let them have it.

  
  


Molly shook herself out of whatever grim thoughts had seemingly overtaken her mind for that brief moment. “Of course. What is it, dears?”

  
  


“We both lost our.. wands.” Yugi hoped they wouldn't notice the brief pause before he said the word. “Mine got lost during the, uh, dement-ur's attack and Yami's got broken sometime before that. It's a bit of a blur, honestly.”

  
  


Thankfully, all three appeared to be too shocked – in Arthur's case – or too concerned – in Remus and Molly's - to notice his tiny slip.

  
  


“Bu-” Molly was just about to say something, when they all heard a brief knock that seemed to come from the front door. It sounded like it was intended to be quiet, but in the resounding stillness of their surprise, it appeared very noticeable.

  
  


Molly closed her mouth before giving a determined shake of her head and turned to face Yugi. “I - ah.. I think that's Albus, dears. He'll be able to help you out with that, okay?” And she hurried off before Yugi had a chance to say anything else.

  
  


“I'm very sorry to hear that.” Remus sounded genuinely upset, but earnest. “That must have been quite unsettling, stepping into an unknown place without a protection.”

  
  


Arthur shook his head in wonder. “Especially in these trying times. I admit, I'd feel quite naked without my trusty wand.”

  
  


“Yeah..” Yami trailed off.

  
  


' _Amazing_. _They seem to be extremely dependant on these sticks._ '

  
  


' _Sounds like a potentially crippling flaw, especially in a conflict. How hard can it be to knock a piece of wood out of someone's hand?_ '

  
  


' _With this magic they have? Who knows._ ' He saw Yugi nod.

  
  


“Anyway.” Remus cleared his throat. “I really must be off now.”

  
  


“Aren't you staying?” Arthur asked with a questioning tilt of his head.

  
  


“No.” Remus said and rubbed one of his eyes wearily. “I've been meaning to pick up something, but I kept putting it off. If you'll excuse me.” He rose from the chair. “Good to meet you.”

  
  


“And you.” Yami echoed back. What an abrupt leave.

  
  


“Thank you.” Yugi added. “I hope we meet again soon.” Remus nodded in affirmative and with that, stepped out of the kitchen.

  
  


' _Should we?_ '

  
  


' _If he wants._ ' Yami felt the Silver Fang brush against his consciousness and let amusement fill him. ' _And want he does._ '

  
  


' _Off you go. Be careful._ ' Yugi spoke directly to the monster and they both heard the silent huff in return. Of course he would be.

  
  


Arthur was next to stand up and he stretched his arms out, over his head.

  
  


“Great meeting you, boys.” He said and Yami could see that he was struggling to hold back a yawn. “Unfortunately, there's work to be done tomorrow, so I really must be off. I will see you tomorrow.” He gave them a tired smile. “Molly will show you to your room, after you finish up here. Night.” He walked around the table, dodging a stray chair by the millimetre and stepped out.

  
  


“Goodnight!” They called after him.

  
  


Yami could hear his footsteps echo down the hallway, then Molly and someone else speaking to him, before the walking resumed and then slowly faded as he proceeded up the stairs. Yugi could still feel his energy though, and was able to pinpoint his exact location, if need would arise.

  
  


Just then, Molly stepped back into the room and following her, in walked one of the strangest people either of them had ever seen, and they were effectively distracted again.

  
  


' _Is that..?_ '

  
  


' _The Albus-person? Likely. Is he wearing-_ '

  
  


' _-a shimmery purple dress? Robes? Yep._ '

  
  


' _Oh. So I'm not hallucinating._ '

  
  


' _Nope. On a more serious note, he's old. I can almost_ feel _the years on him. And the magic is reacting strangely around him.'_

  
  


So it was. Yami carefully didn't focus too much on the threads that were floating around the man, in fear of attracting his attention, with the seemingly unfocused staring.

  
  


' _The threads... they're bending to him? To his will? I think he's controlling the 'wards'? Or, at the very least, he has some control over them._ '

  
  


' _They seem slightly unwilling though._ ' Yugi noted with a tiny frown.

  
  


Yami examined them with a quick once-over and focused on the man's energy. He had.. notably more than he had expected from such an old person. ' _Huh. That's probably because they're Dark. He's... Grey._ '

  
  


' _Ah. That would actually explain it. Also, he's tall. Just wanted to point that out. Not as tall as Seto though, at least I don't think so._ '

  
  


' _How do you even know how tall Kaiba is?_ '

  
  


' _Hard not to notice when he hovers over everyone._ '

  
  


Yami quieted a snort. ' _Okay, fair. But to be honest, I mostly face him in stadiums and during those instances I tend to focus on the duel._ '

  
  


' _That's true._ '

  
  


“Yami, Yugi,” Molly turned to look at them. “This is the man who asked for your help at the hearing.”

  
  


“Hello.” The strange man's glasses reflected the light and Yami noted their strange half-moon shape. His blue eyes burned with sharp intellect that was just partially concealed behind the lenses, and Yami was instantly back on high alert.

  
  


The one's with intelligence were always the most unpredictable, and this man had it in spades.

  
  


The man, however, just smiled at them with genuine curious expression on his weathered face. “My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and I'm the current acting headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please, just call me Albus.”

  
  


He extended a hand, first towards the very baffled Yami, who stood up and shook his hand, taking a note of the strong grip. Annoyingly, it also made him let go of Yugi, but the headache had thankfully subsided for the moment. Still, he made sure to remain a close proximity of Yugi.

  
  


Albus then offered his hand to Yugi who took it with a small bow and gave a quiet greeting.

  
  


' _That almost forces us to give out our full names, out of sheer politeness. Also, an entire school dedicated to magic? That's... wow._ '

  
  


' _Yeah. As for the names, I don't see the harm in giving mine out. The surname is not exactly uncommon and we're adults anyway. The school thing, on the other hand, that's a lot more believable now, than it would have been not even a day ago._ '

  
  


' _That's true, yes. By the way, I'll let you improvise on my surname._ '

  
  


“My name is Yugi Mutou.” Yugi stated and then gestured towards him. “This is Yami Katsuya. We're cousins. Please feel free to use our names too.”

  
  


' _Oh? Not bad at all._ '

  
  


' _Mmm. A relatively common surname. Plus, I feel better having a reminder of Jou here._ '

  
  


' _Me too, partner._ '

  
  


“I see. I assumed you were related. I really like your hair too, it's superb.” Albus's eyes sparkled. “You're from Japan, yes?”

  
  


“Ah – I – thank you. And yes, indeed.” Yugi blinked.

  
  


“Wonderful, wonderful.” Albus looked around and seemingly not finding what he wanted, simply perched up on the table.

  
  


...for all of the two seconds that it took for Molly to glare him down, after which he slid down in a proper chair with a put-upon sigh.

  
  


Molly smiled at him sweetly, while Yami and Yugi watched the exchange with raised eyebrows.

  
  


“Tea, Albus?”

  
  


“Oh, definitely, Molly. Thank you.” She nodded and went off to the corner of the kitchen, pulling out her 'wand'.

  
  


Yami noted the long stick and the various movements that Molly was starting to make, and would have continued examining the scene, if he didn't feel the need to keep Albus in his field of vision at all times.

  
  


Said man had now crossed his arms on the table and was looking at them thoughtfully.

  
  


“Now, Molly here said that you're both down a wand?” He tilted his head.

  
  


“Yes.” Yami said and heaved a heavy sigh, hoping to convey how much the fact troubled them. “Sadly, we're not even exactly sure how it happened. As you can imagine, we're having some trouble recalling everything that happened.”

  
  


Albus hummed understandingly. “Well – oh, thank you, Molly – I can definitely help you with getting to the Diagon Alley, and you should be able to find what you're looking for there. I'm sure you'd like to go as soon as possible, so how about tomorrow?” He took a sip of his tea.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Molly settled down with her own cup and was looking at Albus worriedly. “Are you sure it's a good idea to send them without an escort?” She glanced over to them. “No offence meant, but it's a bit dangerous to be outside of protected spaces right now. You two also seem quite young and, with the way you look, you'll never blend in.”

  
  


“We're twenty.” Yugi stated with a long-suffering expression. He was used to people mistaking him for someone much younger.

  
  


“Oh. My apologies” Molly blinked. “You're definitely older than I had assumed.” She didn't seem to hear Yami's muttered 'you'd be surprised' as Yugi elbowed him discreetly.

  
  


“Either way, couldn't we maybe escort them?” She turned her pleading eyes at Albus, and Yami was amazed how much this woman, that they had only just met, seemed to care about their well-being.

  
  


“If that's what you'd like.” Albus shrugged. “However, I ask that you please keep young Harry here.”

  
  


Molly sighed and cradled the mug in her hands. “He won't be very happy with that.”

  
  


“I don't imagine he's very happy with any of us right now.” Albus said with good humour. “But you realize he would get swarmed by reporters in a heart-beat if he showed up in Diagon Alley right now.”

  
  


“Oh, I suppose you're right. Those foolish, blood-sucking people, I swear.” She shook her head.

  
  


Yami and Yugi wholeheartedly agreed, even if they didn't know the context here. Seemed like reporters everywhere were the same breed.

  
  


Albus smiled at her in a comforting manner and then faced them again. “Are you okay with funds?”

  
  


“As long as we have somewhere where to convert the money.” Yami said slowly. Did the wizarding world run on different currency?

  
  


' _From what I've seen of them so far, I'd say definitely._ '

  
' _We'll probably have to convert some of our jewellery into money then. Not sure what they'd think about money from the future._ '

  
  


' _Ah, right you are._ '

  
  


“Oh yes.” Albus was nodding, but he didn't seem to be paying much attention right now, instead taking out a watch from his pocket and flipped it open, checking the time. “Gringotts bank. They can help you with that.” He flipped the watch shut. “Molly will be able to point you the right way. Afternoon work for you?”

  
  


“Uh, Yes, sure.” Yugi said. Albus was way more... springy.. than most of the older people he knew. It was a little bit off-putting when he pulled stunts that they would expect from a much younger man.

  
  


“Sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush.” Albus apologised, getting up. “I thought you might appreciate sleeping in, seeing as you're still recovering.”

  
  


“Yes, that would be nice.” Yami agreed.

  
  


“Alright then, off I go!” He waved at them and started towards the fireplace. “Thank you for the lovely tea, Molly.”

  
  


“Welcome, take care!” She called after him and stood up, collecting all of the mugs from the table. “I'll show you your room in a minute, alright?”

  
  


Yami nodded at her and then nudged Yugi.

  
  


' _Fireplace phone. And apparently way of travelling?_ '

  
  


' _I actually thought you were kidding with that one._ '

  
  


Albus had just taken a pinch of a dusty powder that was hanging by the shelf in a decorative flower pot. Stepping in the unlit furnace, he turned around to look at them and waved again.

  
  


He then called out something unintelligible to them, while simultaneously dropping the powder and disappeared into roaring, green fire, which had appeared as soon as the powder touched the ground.

  
  


Yami was glad that Molly was busy washing the dishes, as even he recoiled back into his seat at the unexpectedly violent send-off.

  
  


' _What.._ '

  
  


' _..the fuck?_ ' Yugi dead-panned.

  
  


' _...this new magic is truly … something._ '

  
  


' _Something awful. Who thought that this way of travel wasn't a suicide mission and decided to try it out? Also, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Shadow Flickering seems tame by comparison. Are all the wizarding ways of travel so violent?_ '

  
  


' _I guess we'll find out._ ' Yami thought unenthusiastically.

  
  


' _Yaaaayyy..._ ' Was Yugi's dry reply, but there was a certain humour to it, which Yami echoed.

  
  


“All done now, dears.” Molly put the last cup down and walked towards them, rolling down her sleeves.

  
  


“Come. I'll show you where you are staying.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, everyone who enjoyed this! 
> 
> Art by me~

**Author's Note:**

> English is my second/third language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.


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